Missed Chance of Happiness
by Mellkat86
Summary: This is an AU story. When Belle escpaes the asylum, she doesn't find Rumpel at the shop and so Rumpel doesn't know that Belle is alive. He brings magic back to Storybrooke and then leaves for New York to find Baelfire. Nearly two years have passed and Rumpel receives a letter from Regina, asking for his help in getting Henry back from Neverland. *Storybrooke Characters used*
1. Chapter 1

The streets hummed with the sounds of cars, honking horns and people trudging their way to work. He was in a world of his own, strolling down the sidewalk towards his building's entrance. His hair danced in the gentle gush of the wind, falling down over his face when the breeze eased. The door attendant nodded to Rumpel whilst he opened the glass door to the building. Rumpel stepped into the foyer of his building that employees and visitors littered.

Stood to one side at the elevators, Rumpel pushed the call button and pulled his phone out of his pocket, checking the messages and emails it had received. The doors opened as he tutted at an annoying message. He shook his head and shoved his phone into his pocket as he entered the elevator, pressing the top button on the panel. Rumpel leant against the back of the elevator with the doors closing in front of him and the elevator began its quick climb to the top of the building.

The elevator pinged when it came to a stop and opened its door to allow Rumpel to exit. Sauntering out of the elevator, Rumpel undid the buttons of his overcoat and pulled half his coat back to slide his hand into his pocket. As he passed employees, they greeted him and stood out of his way in the corridor. He ambled through an open doorway to find his secretary babbling on the phone to someone, organising another meeting into his planner.

Rumpel stopped on the other side of her desk and drew back the other side of his overcoat to put his other hand in his pocket. He watched her roll her eyes, not amused that the other person, on the end of phone, was still talking. Intrigued he bent over her desk to look at the diary. Seeing that he was trying to see the diary, she turned the book towards him for a better look. Another oil company wanted a meeting with him. 'Boring', Rumpel thought to himself. As he straightened himself, he left her to go into his office, shrugging off his overcoat to lay over one of the chairs in front of his large desk.

He walked over to the floor to ceiling window unbuttoning his suit jacket. The view of New York was vast. Studying the view as he did most days, Rumpel wondered if Storybrooke was on the horizon of his view. He knew it was not. It was a good hour's drive from New York.

Leaving Storybrooke had been a big step for Rumpel. He had tricked the Saviour into getting his true love potion and then used it to bring magic to this world. With his magic back, Rumpel had concocted a potion to stop him losing his memory and had left to find his son, not looking back once. It had been nearly two years and all he knew was that Baelfire was in New York. A small location spell using Rumpel's blood had shown him that, but every time he thought he was close to finding him, Rumpel lost his trail. Now that he had more money and power in this world, he had hired several private investigators to find his son and was still waiting.

"Mr Gold," His secretary said coming into the room behind him. "You've got that benefit tonight. Your tuxedo has been dry-cleaned and it is waiting for you at your penthouse. Your driver will collect you at half six tonight."

"Thank you, Laura." He said turning on his heels to face her. Rumpel knew he was lucky to have hired Laura. She was loyal and quick to tend to all his professional needs.

She smiled and said. "Andrews wants to have a word with you before you leave tonight."

"What does he want?" Rumpel questioned as he crossed to his desk, pulling out his leather chair.

"No idea." Laura replied watching him sit down at his desk. "There has been chatter that he's been in negotiations with a rival company."

Rumpel raised an eyebrow whilst he flicked through the mail on his desk. "Has he now."

She nodded and scooped up his coat from the chair in front of her, taking it with her when she walked out of his office. Rumpel ripped open his mail, pondering over the conversation that Andrews wanted to have with him. He pulled the letter out of the envelope and read another report from one of the investigators, telling him how they were closer but still did not have an address for his son. Screwing up the letter, he cursed their continued failure and threw the letter in the bin behind him.

Laura came back into his office, carrying a tray with a tea set on it. "Do you want me to order you some food? I know you never eat at these benefits."

"No, I'm fine, thank you." He replied ripping open another letter to read the contents. Another failure, another letter in the bin. Rumpel groaned at his annoyance as he picked up another letter, turning it over to recognise the scribble. Quickly he slipped his thumb into the small opening and ripped open the envelope to pull the letter out of it.

The teacup chinked in its saucer as Laura placed it down on the desk near him, watching him read over the letter he held between his hands. "News?"

"Sort of." Rumpel mumbled as he turned the piece of paper over to read the back. He was vaguely aware that Laura had left his office again, leaving the tea set for him when he wanted another drink.

He turned the piece of paper back over in his hands and reread the letter again. Regina had wrote to him asking for help. She explained in her letter that two strangers had come into Storybrooke and taken Henry through a portal, and now she needed his help. There was a small tug from his conscious to help his ex-pupil, her worry evident in her letter. However, nothing would make him help her, not after seeing the glee in her face when she had told him that Belle had committed suicide. If there had been at one time, a form of friendship between them, she destroyed it that day.

Tossing the letter onto his desk, Rumpel reached for his tea and sat back into his chair, his gaze fixed on her letter. Why she thought she had the right to ask him for help, he could not understand. Regina had tried all her might for twenty-eight years to get him to do what she wanted, have him under her thumb. Simply by saying please to her, Rumpel had managed to thwart her plans with 'please'. He grinned remembering the look on her face, trying to comprehend why she always did what he wanted instead of the other way round.

His phone beeped before Laura spoke. "It's nearly five o'clock. Do you want me to send Andrews in, he's waiting out here?"

Rumpel put the teacup back on its saucer as he sat forward reaching for the button on his phone. "Send him in."

He stood from his chair and pulled his waistcoat down under his suit jacket as Andrews came through the open doorway. Rumpel could sense that the other man had a hint of apprehension about him. Andrews stopped on the other side of Rumpel's desk and extended his hand towards Rumpel, which he took and shook firmly.

"Andrews, what can I do for you?" Rumpel said gesturing for Andrews to take a seat and sat down into his chair.

"Oh, thank you." Andrews quickly sat, plonking his briefcase beside his seat. "I was hoping to have a chat with you, sir."

"Okay… And?" He retorted, motioning with his hand for Andrews to continue.

The young man nodded his head at Rumpel. "I have been approached by Zegman to work for him."

"That's nice." Rumpel chided, picking up his tea to drink it. "And you're hoping… What? I plead for you to stay?"

"Well… I was hoping you would give me a counteroffer." Andrews said surprised by Rumpel. "I've worked here since you formed this company. I have helped you…"

Rumpel cut him off. "You haven't helped me to do anything. I have gotten this company where it is on my own. You, you just share in the wealth that I make and I already pay you handsomely for your duties. If you want to go over to Zegman, then go. There are plenty of people in New York that want to work for me, who would kill to work for me."

Rumpel stunned Andrews, he could tell by the fish impression that Andrews was doing across the desk at him. He did not care and poured himself another tea. Rumpel knew he was right. The amount of applications and letters that human resources got weekly was enough for Rumpel to know he could open another branch if he wanted. His company, Gold Import and Export, was a phaenomenon. The amount of interviews he did, where they ask what led to his success over night was becoming tiresome.

"Right, if that's how you feel, Mr Gold." Andrews collected his briefcase and stood from his chair. "I'll let you know my decision tomorrow." The other man marched out of Rumpel's office, leaving Rumpel to watch in his wake until the other man turned out of sight. Andrews was a good employee, but he had never really brought anything business wise to Gold Import and Export. Less than a handful of times Rumpel could remember being in a business meeting where Andrews had been the lead on the deal.

The intercom beeped before Laura said. "Your driver is waiting for you downstairs."

"Thank you, Laura." Rumpel replied to her, holding down the intercom button. "If you haven't got anything important to do tonight, you can go home."

"Thank you, Mr Gold. Night." She said through the intercom. Sipping at his tea, Rumpel turned in chair to look out the window over New York. He sighed contently finishing the last of his tea, thankful that Laura could brew nearly the perfect cup of tea. There had only been one person in his life that had made his tea to perfection, but sadly and regrettably, she was not here anymore. Another one of his failures that haunted him.

The year they had spent together felt like a lifetime, but was too short. An honest declaration of love from her and he had thrown her out, sending her to her death. She had been right, he had regretted it every day since he showed her the door and lied to her. Belle had meant more to him, more to him than he had ever imagine. Now all he had was memories and her teacup that sat on his desk at his penthouse.

Grunting at the time, Rumpel stood out of his chair to place his teacup back on its saucer and exited his office to get his coat from the coat stand behind Laura's desk. He sauntered out into the corridor, feeding his arm into his coat and then the other to pull the heavy overcoat on. The floor was empty. Everyone had evacuated the building as soon as the clock turned to five o'clock. Rumpel shook his head at their urgency to get home and pressed the call button for the elevator.


	2. Chapter 2

Rumpel was momentarily blinded by the camera flashes as he climbed out of the back of his limo, buttoning his tuxedo jacket. Some of the photographers were shouting his name trying to get him to look at them, but Rumpel refused and climbed the steps towards the building, brushing pass some people being interviewed before they entered. It was a charity benefit for the New York City Children's Centre and a chance for Rumpel to use it for his gain. People noticed when businesses gave to charities. It seemed that in this world it opened more doors and made way for deals.

Slowing his pace as he entered the entrance hall, Rumpel glanced around to see if there was a familiar face. Any other businesses he could chat to and lead into a deal. There did not seem to be anyone, so he moseyed through the mingling people to find the bar or a server. Rumpel entered the main event hall to see a sea of tables in front of a stage. He hated these events but he knew they were good for business.

He noticed the bar off to one side and made his way over there, asking the barman for a whiskey no ice. Rumpel shoved one of his hands into his pockets and swept some of his hair back out of his face. It still felt weird to have it slightly shorter. Moving with the times, Rumpel had trimmed his hair shorter, leaving the top longer to curtain over his forehead. It had been a business decision more than a fashion choice. Dealing with the older generation, they would often comment on how he looked like a hippy, whatever one of those were. Since the haircut, he had noted that his deals with the older generation went more smoothly.

The barman handed Rumpel his drink. Rumpel took it and sipped it, nodding his head at the warm oaky taste of the whiskey. He freed his hand from his pocket and slipped it into his jacket, pulling out the invite to see where he would be seated.

"Mr Gold." The female voice called to him.

He grinned at hearing her voice and then turned to see her stood a couple of feet away. "Why, Miss Field, what a pleasure to see you here."

"Don't you try to flatter me, Mr Gold." Miss Field retorted to him, motioning to the barman she would have the same as Rumpel. "You cost me in our last deal. I haven't forgiven you yet."

"Really, dearie?" Rumpel queried.

"Yes. I lost out on five million dollars!" She told him, swatting her purse against his arm.

He raised his eyebrows at her, smirking as he said. "You didn't seem that bother afterwards. Especially when you were too busy screaming my name."

Her cheeks blushed at him. "Rumald!"

"No, it wasn't quite like that." He commented pursing his lips in feign thought. "It was more a shrill. Like, RUMALD!" She laughed loudly but hit him again with her purse, embarrassed that people had stopped to look at them. Rumpel grinned wickedly and sipped at his whiskey, eyeing her over the top of his glass. He liked her but not enough that he wanted her in life. She had just happened to be there in a moment when he wanted someone with brown curly hair and deep blue sapphire eyes. Someone he was never going to have in his life again.

"So, now you've embarrassed me, how're you?" Miss Field asked before drinking from her drink.

"I'm good, thank you for asking." He said nodding his head. "And you?"

"Feeling splendid. I've just come back from two weeks in Bora Bora." She informed him, her hand touching his shoulder as she spoke.

He sipped his drink watching some people come into the room and said. "Sounds boring."

"Oh, you're just saying that 'cause you haven't been there with the right person." She said moving closer to him, her dress brushed up against his tuxedo. Rumpel looked down at their closeness. She gazed at him so expectantly, he knew what she wanted but he did not want it with her.

Rumpel took a step away from her. "Yes, well the right person for me came and went a long time ago."

He saw the hope crush in her eyes, but she was a strong woman and soon blinked it away, hiding her hurt. "Oh."

"Angela, it's nothing to…" He began but she cut him off by pressing her finger to his lips. "It's okay, Rumald, I understand." As she finished, Angela turned away from him and walked off downing her whiskey in one. Rumpel closed his eyes and shook his head, someone else he had hurt to add to the endless list.

Opening his eyes as he sighed, Rumpel turned to face the bar behind him finishing his whiskey and asked the barman for another. He raked his fingers through his hair wishing things could be so different. If he had only accepted Belle's love then he probably would not be there on his own. Rumpel thanked the barman and took his glass back, and headed over to the table that his invite indicated.

He was the first to the table and as there were no place cards on the table, he pulled out a chair for himself and sat down placing his glass on the table. Rumpel knew he was going to be bored out of his mind. First there would be a big introduction of whatever equipment or new wing they wanted to build, then they would tell everyone how much they needed to raise and then the auction would start, encouraging the rich people in the room to hand over their money. He normally waited until there was something that two people were having a bidding war over and then would come in at the last second to steal it, just for his own entertainment.

A hand touched his shoulder, making him look up from his glass to the person that sat down beside him. "Hello, Rumpel."

Rumpel scrunched his eyebrows together, whipping round in his seat to look over his shoulder and then back at Regina. "How the hell?"

"What? You're not the only one with magic here." She told him.

"What are you doing here?" Rumpel's voice was low as he spoke, annoyed by her sudden presence.

"Did you not get my letter?" Regina asked. Her eyes already had that pleading look about them.

He nodded his head at her, sitting against the back of his chair. "Yes, I got it today."

"I sent that letter two weeks ago!" She exclaimed to him, her hand clenching at his tuxedo jacket.

"I am a busy man." Rumpel said before snatching his arm out of her hold and straightened the arm of his jacket. "I've been aboard on business. Not that it's any of your business."

Regina changed tactic with him and leaned forward towards him. "I need your help, Rumpel. We need your help."

"Oh, no, dearie. I'm not helping you. You've got nothing to offer for my help." He told her closing the gap between them, their faces close enough to feel the other's breath. "You don't have the right to ask me for help."

"No, I guess I don't." She responded leaning away from him.

Smiling at her retreat, Rumpel picked up his glass leaning back as she spoke. "But your grandson does."

"Grandson?" He chuckled at her. "I don't have a grandson, dearie."

"That's funny. Seeing as the father to Henry is your son, Baelfire." Regina smiled watching Rumpel choke on his whiskey, coughing into his fist. "Yes, I had that same reaction finding out you were my son's grandfather."

Steadying himself against the table, Rumpel stared at the table. "Baelfire? But how?"

She looked puzzled for a moment and then shrugged it away, saying. "Well, when a man and woman love each other… Okay, never mind that, but when a man and woman…"

"I don't mean that! I meant how did he meet Emma?" Rumpel growled at her, his annoyance reaching tipping point with her.

"They met when she stole a car that he had already stolen, or something along those lines." She said flippant, not interested in the details.

"He stole a car?" He asked but he was not looking for an answer.

"Rumpel," Regina touched his hand on the table. "We need your help. You need to come back to Storybrooke."

"Why do you need me?" He questioned, turning his head to look at her.

Regina pursed her lips at him before she spoke. "I don't have anything that will show me where they have gone. You must have something, if you were able to trace Baelfire to this realm."

"It's in my shop." He told her leaning back against his chair.

"Okay, where is it in your shop?" Regina asked hopeful.

Rumpel shook his head at her. "You won't find it in my shop without me. I've sealed it away with blood magic."

"I guess you've got no choice then." She informed him. "You're going to have to come back to Storybrooke, especially if you want to find Baelfire." He glared at her making her evil grin disappear. The idea of going back to Storybrooke, to have people whisper and look at him wherever he went in town, was not appealing. They did not want him there and he did not want to be there. It was probably why he had grown to love New York. Nobody knew him and they did not treat him any different.

Reluctantly Rumpel downed the last of his whiskey and stood from his chair, scrapping it on the vanished floor. Regina was surprised by his sudden movement and jumped up from her seat, moving out of his way as he stepped pass her to head out of the room. He pulled at his bow tie and undid it, pulling it from around his collar to shove into his tuxedo jacket. Leaving the building, Rumpel took his phone out of his pocket and called his driver to tell him to meet him at the street corner.

"Rumpel!" Regina shouted as she try to chase him in heels. He ignored her, pushing his way through the crowd, and unbuttoned the collar of his shirt. Behind him, she was pleading for him to slow down but he kept his pace and shook his head at her.

He dialled Laura's number and she answered on the second ring. "Mr Gold?"

"Sorry for the late call, Laura." Rumpel apologised glancing at his watch to see the time. "I need you to cancel all my appointments."

"For tomorrow?" She asked.

"Yes and for the next two weeks. I'm taking an unexpected trip and I don't know when I'll be back." He told her as he came to a stop at the street corner, looking for his limo. Regina pulled down on his shoulder when she caught up, bending down to remove her heels as she cursed at him.

"Oh! Right, okay, sir. I'll sort that out first thing." Laura replied. Rumpel liked how Laura never pushed to know personal things about him. She understood him. He did not like talking about himself and she never asked. A normal person would have asked about his trip, not Laura.

Rumpel ended his call to shove his phone back into his pocket and gazed down at Regina, as she picked up her heels saying. "You could have waited!"

"You could have stayed out of my life." He countered, smirking at her discomfort.

"You could have stayed in Storybrooke and then I wouldn't have to be here." Regina snapped up at him, now she was shorter than he was out of her heels. The limo pulled up in front of them. Rumpel yanked the door open and gestured for Regina to get in, following her in when she scooted across on the leather seat. He closed the door and told the driver to take him home.


	3. Chapter 3

The elevator doors opened onto the foyer of his penthouse. Rumpel strode out of the elevator removing his tuxedo jacket and went into the living area. Scratching the back of his neck, Rumpel tossed his jacket towards one of the leather couches and rounded the bar to grab the whiskey to pour himself a drink. As he stood leaning against the bar, Rumpel watched Regina come into the living area, her face in awe of his home. She was looking around at everything, from the sculptures to the painting hanging on the wall. When her gaze came to the view of New York, she gasped moving over to the window, taking in the beautiful city lit up by street and building lights.

Drinking from his glass, Rumpel began to unbutton his shirt further and went out of the room to his bedroom, pulling his shirttails out from his pants. His glass clunked against the table as he set it down, with his phone and money out of his pockets, so he could undo his cuffs to remove his shirt. He laid it onto the end of his bed, knowing that Laura would send someone over tomorrow to sort it. Walking into his wardrobe, Rumpel removed his dress shoes and pants, forgetting them in a heap on the floor. He pulled on some casual black pants and white t-shirt, before pulling on a thin black cotton jumper over his head. Tugging the waist of his jumper down, he walked purposefully out of his wardrobe with a pair of black shoes hooked on his fingers and collected his drink and items from the table.

He came out of his bedroom to find Regina behind his bar, helping herself to his booze. "Make yourself at home then."

"How many different brands of vodka do you have?" She asked looking between the various bottles.

"Where's your car?" Rumpel asked changing the subject whilst he sat down onto one of the leather couches to put his shoes on.

Regina waved her hand absently. "It's at a parking garage."

"Well, dearie," He said standing up to put his money and phone in his pockets. "You better go and get it, or magic it here."

"Why?" She asked pouring a glass of the vodka she had selected.

He downed his whiskey. "Because one, I've got to pop to my office and get something. Two, I do not want to ride in a car with you, I've seen the way you drive."

"Nothing wrong with my driving!" Regina defended herself.

"Yes, dearie, you tell yourself that." Rumpel said to her as he came over to the bar to put his glass on the counter. "I'm sure you'll be able to show yourself out." Before she could respond, Rumpel left her at the bar and went into the foyer to grab a thin jacket from the closet. He slid into the jacket and unhooked the keys for one of his cars from the key cupboard that was inside the closet as well.

Riding the elevator down to the underground car part, Rumpel exited the elevator and pressed the unlock button on his key fob for his car. The lights on the black Maserati flashed, parked between the Audi and BMW. Rumpel climbed into the car and pushed the start button for the car.

He drove swiftly over to his office building and parked in his spot in the underground car park. Rumpel locked the car and went the short distance to the elevator, calling it down to him. The elevator arrived and Rumpel stepped inside to press the top button. The ride to the top of his building gave him the chance to take in the fact that he was a grandfather. A grandfather to a child that he had watch grow up from a far. It was strange to see how fate worked some times. What were the odds that Rumpel would acquire Regina a child that was his own flesh and blood?

The doors to the elevator opened out onto a dark floor. Rumpel did not mind the dark and made his way down the corridor and into his office. His office was the only one in the building that did not have a camera. He was thankful for this fact as Rumpel waved his hand at the only empty wall in the room. A safe appeared in the middle of the wall. Rumpel opened the safe and removed his dagger from it. He relocked the safe and waved his hand to hide the safe again as he turned to leave tucking his dagger into the inside pocket of his jacket.

It did not take him long to get back down to his car and raced it out of the parking lot. He hastily left New York, knowing his way back to Storybrooke by instinct. Rumpel pushed the button on his radio and set his media system off playing his music. It felt nice to get back behind the wheel. With his own personal driver, Rumpel had no need to drive around New York. The last time he drove was when he travelled to Boston for a meeting, satisfying his itch for a need for speed. A pleasure he had acquired on another business meeting where his intended victim wanted to chat whilst they drove around a racetrack.

Rumpel skipped a couple of songs until he came to her song. The song always reminded him of her, thinking of what could have been. He loved the singer, Laura Pausini. He had many of her songs downloaded into the car and his media system at home. Her voice danced around the car as she got to the chorus of the song, ' _Till the day I let you go, Until the day we say our next hello, it's not goodbye'_.

It took him about forty minutes to get to the turning that led to Storybrooke. Powering the car up the hill and around the bend, he caught a glimpse of some rear car lights in front of him before they went around the approaching bend. Rumpel chuckled to himself, knowing he had caught up with Regina. He put his foot down and quickly came up behind Regina, who was doing the stated speed of the previous road.

As they came around the bend before the road dipped, Rumpel saw Regina's lights illuminate the 'Welcome to Storybrooke' sign. A nervousness came over him. How much could have changed? They drove pass the sign and over the town line. Rumpel felt the tingle as they crossed the barrier. He swallowed nervously as he followed Regina into town and they pulled to a stop outside Grannies. Pressing the button to turn the car off, he looked out the passenger window at the front of Grannies, seeing silhouettes of people that were inside.

Regina suddenly blocked his view when she stood in front of his passenger door and opened it to sit beside him in the car. "You were quick catching up to me!"

"Your car is just slow compared to this." Rumpel gestured towards his car, a smug look on his face.

Regina rolled her eyes at him. "I'll let everyone know that you're back in town. Meet you in Grannies in the morning? About ten?"

"Whatever." Rumpel said with a shrug. "I'm going to get the item from my shop and guess I'll go to my house." She nodded her head at him and climbed out of his car, closing the door behind her. Rumpel watched her go up and into Grannies. Things were different. Regina did not appear to be much like how he remembered her. She looked like she had found some peace from her vengeance.

Rumpel started his car again and turned around in the middle of the road to pull up in front of his shop. He climbed out of the car looking up at his past. No one in New York would ever believe that he was the owner of this small shop. Chucking at the thought, he went to the door waving his hand to unlock it and opened it to step inside his shop. It was stuffy inside. Over a year and half it had remained dormant. He flicked the light switch on and all the lights came on to reveal his shop covered in a layer of dust.

He ambled through the shop, looking over all the items he had left behind, and went into the back of his shop. Rumpel coughed at the dust he disturbed from the curtains and waved his hand in front of his face to clear the dust. It was much the same in the back of his shop, dust covering everything. He crossed the room to the cupboard at the back of the room and waved his hand at it, causing one of the bottom cupboard doors to pop open. Rumpel opened the door wider to retrieve a large box. Kicking the door shut, he turned to the workbench and placed the box on top of it.

There was a small voice in the back of his mind, telling him to take the box, get back in his car, and go home to New York. He did not owe them or anyone anything. Why help them? It was so tempting to do what the voice suggested. He had a good life going in New York. No drama. No hurt. Just himself, his business and making money. But… He wanted to find Baelfire.

Rumpel shunned the voice away and grabbed the box to leave his shop. He pushed through the curtains, turned off the lights and stepped outside the shop door to lock the door again. Pressing a button on his remote for the car, the trunk popped open as Rumpel walked over to it. Carefully he put the box into the trunk and closed it. Rumpel scratched at his forehead, telling himself he had keep thinking of Baelfire, as he climbed into the driver's seat of his car. He pulled away from the sidewalk and headed to his house, missing the figure that had been watching him from the shadows of the library.


	4. Chapter 4

Rumpel's car growled to a stop outside of Grannies. He checked the time with the clock in the car and pressed the button to turn off his car. Rumpel had been gearing himself up all morning, preparing himself for seeing everyone after so long. Climbing out of his car, he pulled down the waistcoat to his three-piece suit, glad he had worn his shades, as it was so bright. He shut the door to his car and made his way around to the sidewalk, locking his car with the remote. Nervously Rumpel straightened his suit jacket and buttoned it up. He had been surprised that his old suit was loose on him, but with a simple click of his fingers, it fitted just as well as his tailored suits in New York.

He climbed the steps up to Grannies, removing his sunglasses to store inside his suit jacket, and took a deep breath before he opened the door, waiting for the gasps or comments when he entered. Stepping into Grannies, Rumpel shut the door and gazed around the diner. It had not changed one bit. All the pictures and furniture was still the same. Even the glare the woman gave him as she came from the kitchen was still the same. He could not help the smile and crossed to the counter to meet her.

"Mr Gold," Grannie greeted him. "What an unpleasant surprise!"

"Oh, Grannie, I know you've missed me really." Rumpel teased as he took a seat on a stool and unbuttoned his jacket.

She scoffed at him. "Yeah, right. In your dreams."

"Oh, come on, dearie. Not even a little bit?" He indicated how much with his thumb and forefinger.

"What do you want, Gold?" Grannie asked, unamused by him.

"Coffee, please." He said, amused by her.

"Wow!" She turned and grabbed the coffee pot behind her to pour him a cup of coffee. "The Dark One now says 'please'. I am amazed."

Rumpel raised his eyebrow at her when she turned to give him his coffee. "Things do change, dearie."

"We'll see." She told him before going to check on things in the kitchen. Rumpel sipped at his coffee whilst he pulled his phone out of his pocket, checking his messages and emails. Grumbling he set his coffee down and started typing out a reply to an email, he had received. The door to Grannies opened behind him, Rumpel was too engrossed in his phone to care who it was.

Someone brushed against him and took the stool beside him. "Morning, Rumpel."

"Regina." He replied distantly, his thumbs frantically tapped at the keys of his phone.

"What'll it be your majesty?" Grannie asked, spitting the majesty out as if she had a nasty taste in her mouth.

Rumpel did not miss the tone in Grannies voice and smirked as Regina said. "Coffee."

"Please." Rumpel finished for Regina. Regina regarded him next to her whilst Grannie laughed at Rumpel, pouring out another cup of coffee to give to Regina. Rumpel and Grannie shared a knowing smile as Regina picked up her coffee from the counter and took a sip. Grannie ambled off again, going to check on her other customers.

"She knows how to hold a grudge that one." Regina remarked, watching Grannie go about the diner.

"Don't we all?" Rumpel rhetorically asked as he closed his phone to put it back in his pocket and drank from his coffee.

She turned on her stool to look at him. "So, did you get the item from your shop?"

"Yes. It's in the car." He told her turning to face her and rested against the counter. "So what is the plan then?"

"Erm… We don't have one." Regina said clasping her hands around her coffee cup.

Rumpel rolled his eyes at her. "You come all the way to New York to get me and you don't have a plan?"

"Hence why we need your help!" She answered. The diner door opened behind Rumpel and drew Regina's gaze over his shoulder to whoever had walked in. Turning on his stool, Rumpel looked over his shoulder to see the Charmings coming towards Regina and him.

"Gold." Emma greeted.

Charming moved to lean against the end of the counter. "Hello Rumpel."

Snow stood silent between Emma and Charming, waiting expectantly for something, as Rumpel responded to their greetings. "I would say it was nice to see you all, but then we all know I would be lying."

"Okay, Rumpel has something in his car that can show us where they have taken Henry." Regina began to inform the Charmings. "Now we just need to work out what we're going to do."

"First off, we need to use my item." Rumpel said after taking a drink from his coffee. "For all we know, they could've gone somewhere in this world. Or they've travelled to another realm."

Emma rubbed her hands together. "Come on then, Gold. Let's get on with it."

Rumpel was about to stand up when Snow stopped him with a hand on his chest. "What's the price?"

"Price?" He questioned with a frown.

"You never do anything unless you're getting something out of it." Snow told him pointing a look at him. "I want to know what you want before we do anything. I didn't want Regina bringing you back to Storybrooke and I don't want this town paying because of you."

Rumpel grinned at Snow. He had forgot how much he liked her as Snow White and not as Mary Margaret. "No price."

Snow scowled at him. "What do you mean no price? There's always a price."

"There's no price when it comes to family." Rumpel informed her standing up and made her take a step back as he moved forward away from the counter. "Henry's my grandson. I will pay the price for him."

Regina hopped off her stool and stood beside Rumpel. "Happy now? Can we get on with finding Henry?"

Snow slowly stepped to one side, allowing him to move to the door of Grannies. They all followed him out to his car. Rumpel popped the trunk with the remote and grabbed the box from the car. Showing the box to them, he closed the trunk and led them all to the outside seating area of Grannies. He placed it down onto one of the tables and flicked the locks off to remove the lid of the box, revealing a cloudy globe.

"A globe?" Emma inquired, stepping forward to take a better look at it.

"I've heard about this." Regina said, folding her arms in front of her. "I think my mother had one."

Rumpel looked at Regina. "Where do you think I got it from?"

"You took it from my mother?" Regina questioned him, pointing to the globe.

"Let's just say, she owed me." Rumpel told her, his hand resting on his heart as he spoke to her, and then added. "By using this, we will be able to see where Henry and Baelfire have been taken."

"How does it work?" Charming asked with his arm around Snow's shoulders.

"Simply by pricking your finger." Rumpel pricked his finger on the needle of the globe. "And put the droplets of blood onto the globe, thinking of the blood relative you want to find." He said squeezing his finger to let the droplets fall onto the globe. The blood was absorbed and then particles of his blood swarmed around the inside of the globe. The globe flashed to reveal an island.

Groaning Rumpel covered his face with his hand. "Why did it have to be there?"

"Where?" Snow asked as Charming and she stepped forward to get a better look at the globe.

"Is that an island?" Emma questioned, leaning forward towards the globe.

"It's Neverland." Rumpel informed them. "Trust it to be him."

Regina frowned at Rumpel. "What does that mean? Trust it to be him?"

"Him," Rumpel began as he dropped his hand from his face. "Is my father."

"And…?" Emma interjected to move the conversation along.

"My father is Peter Pan and he's probably got something to do with Henry being taken." Rumpel told them, parting his suit jacket to place his hands on his hips.

"What does your father want with my son?" Regina moved forward towards Rumpel and poked him in his chest with her finger.

"Our son." Emma corrected Regina.

"Wait a second! I haven't had anything to do with my father since I was child." Rumpel defended himself, slapping her hand away.

"Okay, we're getting distracted." Snow pulled Regina away from Rumpel, putting space between them. "We now know where Henry and Neal are. We just need to find a way of getting there."

"Neal?" Rumpel confusedly quizzed.

"Baelfire's name in this world is Neal." Emma answered Rumpel's question, looking up at him from the globe she had been investigating. Noting what Emma said, Rumpel let his frown ease from his forehead, realising he had missed so much with Baelfire. The regret of not following his son through the portal stung him deep in his chest.

"So, how are we going to get to Neverland?" Regina said, beginning to pace back and forth.

"We need to create a portal, so either magical beans or a powerful wand." Rumpel said and took a seat at the table with the globe on.

Regina stopped and turned to Rumpel. "What about the mad hatter?"

"The mad hatter? Do we have to? He's a little… nuts." Emma interjected, taking a seat at the table with Rumpel to hold her face in her hands, remembering her experience with the mad hatter.

"We can't use his hat." Rumpel explained. "The same amount of people have to enter and leave it. We could only use it as one way travel."

"Wouldn't that be enough? We could work on a way back once we find Henry." Charming said with his hand on his hip, gesturing with his other hand as he spoke.

"Isn't it kind of important to have a way back?" Snow countered, turning to look at her husband.

"Why don't we do this," Regina started to say. "I'll go and speak to Jefferson with Snow and Charming. Emma and Rumpel can go to the library and see if they can find a solution to either getting there or coming back, or both."

"Okay." Emma said looking to Rumpel, gesturing with her head for him to follow her. Standing up from his seat, Rumpel put the lid back on the globe and locked the lid into position, carrying it with him as they left Regina, Snow and Charming. As he passed his car, he popped the trunk and put the globe inside for safekeeping. With the trunk shut soundly, Rumpel caught up with Emma on her way over to the library.

As they came to the door to the library, Rumpel quickened his step to grab the door to open it for Emma. "I'm surprised that Regina reopened the library."

"Yeah, she did it just after the curse broke." Emma said, stepping through the open doorway. "Belle made an argument as to why it was good for the town."

"Belle?" Rumpel stumbled through the doorway behind her, stunned by Emma using Belle's name. Emma looked puzzled at Rumpel as he fell against the door behind him. It felt as if Emma had slapped him with Belle's name. He was more than sure there was not another woman in Storybrooke called Belle.

"What's wrong with you? You look like you've seen a ghost." Emma said, grabbing hold of his arm to help back onto his feet.

He frowned at Emma, steadying himself. "I just… She's dead."

"Who's dead?" A voice asked further into the room. He blinked at Emma and then looked to where the voice had come from. She stood with a pile of books in front of her. Belle was as beautiful as he remembered. Her hair shone even in the dull lighting of the library. It felt like his heart was about to rip itself out of his chest and give itself to her. He closed his eyes tight, not trusting what he was seeing.

A pair of hands clenched at his upper arms, making him open his eyes to the beauty that stood before him. "Hello, Rumpelstiltskin."


	5. Chapter 5

Rumpel clenched the teacup in his hands and braced himself onto the table he was sitting at in the library. He stared at the lukewarm tea, hoping it would hold some answers for him. His mind had gone into meltdown and embarrassed himself by babbling on about how she was dead and could not be there. Belle had managed to convince him by holding his hand over her heart to feel her heartbeat. Rumpel had fallen into a stupor, trying to decipher the puzzle in his mind of how he had listened to Regina's lies and believed Belle had committed suicide.

He sipped at his tea and finished it in one, discarding the teacup to the table. Threading his fingers into his hair, he leaned forward on his elbows onto the table, holding his hair out of his face to stare down at the table. Rumpel could not get over that she was there and that she had always been there in the asylum. It just annoyed him that she would not say who put her there. However, if he had known she was in Storybrooke, he would have broken her out. He may have even stayed.

It had sadden him when Belle had told him that someone had helped her escape and she had found his shop locked. He had gone. From her description of events, it sounded like it was the night he had gone to pour the true love potion into the wishing well. All he had needed was for one person or anything to delay him that day and Rumpel may have met her, when she had come to his shop looking for him. He felt guilty thinking about it. Knowing that he could have been a part of her life.

The table shifted as someone sat down opposite him. Rumpel looked up to see Belle in front of him, pouring him another cup of tea from the teapot. He sat back into the chair dropping his hands to the table.

"It's not that bad, Rumpelstiltskin." Belle told him. "I could be dead."

"There is that, I suppose." He muttered as he took the hot teacup from her when she moved it towards him. Their fingers fleetingly touched before she moved her hand away, unaffected by the tingle, Rumpel felt shoot up his fingers from hers. Belle put the teapot to one side on the table and smiled at him.

"You look so different here." Belle commented, waving her hand towards her hair. "Your hair is shorted."

Rumpel took a deep breath to calm himself. "People don't seem to react well to seeing the green glittery skin in this world."

"No, I didn't mean that. You look… Happy." She said with a pause to choose the right word.

"Happy? No, not happy. Content with what I have, probably." Rumpel shook his head at her as he spoke and then sipped from his teacup.

"Content?" She frowned at him. "Meaning if there was something else in your life, you would be happy?" Belle prodded him, reminding him of sitting in his great hall and receiving twenty questions from Belle.

He let a small smile grace his lips from the memory as he said. "Well, I haven't found my son yet."

"I've met him. Neal's very nice." She informed him, fidgeting with her fingernails. "So, you think it'll make you happy, when you do meet him again?"

"I don't know. Maybe I can never be happy." Rumpel said with a shrug of his shoulders. Just as Belle was about to respond, Emma pulled out a chair next to Rumpel and laid a book onto the table. Rumpel scooted his chair aside to allow Emma access to the table, eyeing the contents of the book from a distance.

"Look, I just found this book on Neverland." Emma told them, sliding the book on the table to show Rumpel. "We just need fairy dust and then we can fly to Neverland."

Rumpel frowned at the pages of the book. He reached over to the book and held Emma's page with his fingers to shut it to see the cover. "The boy who wouldn't grow up."

"Peter pan." Belle apprised them as she leant forward onto the table to get a better look at the book.

"Bah!" Rumpel opened the book and shoved it away from him. "More like the man who was a coward and abandoned his son."

"What?" Belle looked confused at Rumpel's reaction.

Emma slid the book back in front of them, giving Belle a weary smile. "Peter pan is Gold's father."

"Really!" She exclaimed directing it at Rumpel. "You never told me that!"

"Why would I ever share that information with a servant?" Rumpel snapped. Belle's shoulders dropped, her body deflated at his tone. He instantly regretted it but did not apologise or show any outward sign of remorse.

"Anyway!" Emma said to them, raising her voice slightly. "We could go and talk to Mother Superior and see if we can get our hands on some fairy dust."

Rumpel shook his head. "I'm not going there. You can go. I do not talk to those gnats."

"What's your problem with them?" Emma asked, frowning at him.

"His mother is a fairy." Belle interjected and received a glare from Rumpel across the table. He did not appreciate her mentioning his mother. The less said about either of his parents the better. They were both as bad as one another and deserved to live the rest of their lives in excruciating pain for abandoning him.

"Right. There's your plan!" Rumpel jumped up from his chair and shoved it under the table, scraping the feet of the chair on the floor. "Go and sort it, dearies." He said before turning away from them and storming out of the library. Rumpel shook his head at himself as he shoved the door hard and ignored the loud bang as it slammed against its stopper. Grumbling to himself, he marched his way across the street towards his car, pulling his key remote out of his pocket.

"Rumpelstiltskin!" Belle called behind him. Rumpel threw his hands up in the air, annoyed that she had decided to follow him. Furiously shaking his head side to side, he unlocked his car and yanked the car door open. The door handle snatched out of his hand and the door slammed shut again when Belle ran into his car.

"What are you doing?" He bellowed at her as he grabbed her arm to pull her away from the car and reached for his door again.

"Don't go! I'm sorry, don't run away!" She told him, grasping his arm to stop him climbing into his car.

Rumpel yanked his arm out of her hold. "I'm not running away! I'm going home!"

"What?" Belle pulled a confused face at him.

"I'm going back to New York." He told her as he opened his car door and climbed into his car shutting the door behind him. The car roared to life and squealed off as Rumpel pulled away, racing off down the road and away from Belle, leaving her standing in the middle of the road. He watched as she disappeared in the rear view mirror, leaving all his troubles behind him just as he did before.

Living in New York had been his chance to find Baelfire, but had also been his chance for a new start. A chance to forget about his pain and everyone that had caused him pain. Things were simpler in New York. No one asked questions about where he came from. They just cared about the now and the future. Everyone in Storybrooke were fixated on the past and what he had done to them.

The Storybrooke leaving sign came into view as he came around the bend in the road. Slowing to a stop in front of the sign, he put the car into park and let out the breath he had been holding. He was annoyed that Belle felt she had the right to divulge his past. If he wanted to share the information, such as the identity of his father, that was his choice. However, at the end of the day, she had been his servant not his friend or lover. Even if she had been, he still would not feel comfortable with her telling people private things about him. He did not share things with anyone. Not even Baelfire knew who his grandparents were. He did not even know what pain Rumpel had gone through before marrying Milah.

He closed his eyes and clenched his steering wheel with both hands. In that split second of revealing something about him, it took him right back to when he was a little boy and feeling vulnerable. She made him feel weak. Rumpel had not felt weak in a long time. It was funny that the last person to make him feel weak was Belle. He still remembered the taste of her lips and the hope in her eyes as he asked what was happening, feeling a tingle all over his body. That was when she said it, 'Kiss me again, it's working!' 'Any curse can be broken!'.

Rumpel let go of the steering wheel to rub at his forehead, calming his demons as he grumbled to himself. "Don't do it, Rumpel."

Every part of him told him to hit the road back to New York, get back to the mundane life he had created for himself. However, knowing she was here, that she was alive, kept him from driving over the town line.

Belle may make him feel weak at times, but she also made him feel strong. Over the time she had been at the castle, Belle had managed to get under his thick green skin. Rumpel had listened to her and remembered his old self, who would never dream of hurting another person. Whether it was the good she saw in him, or his cowardice, a little voice had started telling him when he was making the wrong choice. That little voice was screaming at him to turn the car around.

"I'm going to regret this." He told himself selecting drive and spun the car around in the road, speeding back towards Storybrooke.

As he drove down the main street in town, Rumpel could see Emma and Belle standing outside the library talking. Pulling over to an abrupt stop beside them, he powered down the window on the passenger side to talk to them.

"Get in the car." He instructed them.

Emma bent over to see him. "What?"

"Let's go and talk to Mother Superior." Rumpel said, regretting it as he said it.

"I thought you were going back to New York?" Belle questioned him, crouching down to place her hand on the door to steady herself.

"Look, if you want my help, then get in the goddamn car before I change my mind and go back to New York." He barked at them.

They looked at each other before Belle stood and opened the door. Emma leant into the car and looked at Rumpel as she pulled the handle on the front seat to pull it forward. As Emma clambered onto the backseat of the car, Belle pushed the seat back into position and sat into the car, closing the door behind her.

He heard the clicks of their seat belts as he checked his mirror and sped off from the library heading for the convent. Belle giggled at the sudden acceleration whilst Emma let out a 'whoa' sound from the backseat. Rumpel was oblivious to Emma's comment of slow down. The giggles that had erupted from beside him sounded heavenly. He glanced over to her and saw her smiling whilst intently watching the road in front of them. It was like one of his dreams, dreaming of a life he could have spent with her.

Braking to a stop in the convent parking lot, the car slid to a stop on the gravel surface. Rumpel stepped out of the car, loosening the tie from around his neck and removed it to fling onto the backseat of the car.

"Remind me to instruct you on driving at the speed limit whilst you're in Storybrooke." Emma scowled at him after climbing out of the back of the car with Belle's help.

Turning to shut his door and face them over the car, Rumpel undid the top buttons of his shirt as he said. "Yes, sheriff."

Emma stomped off towards the path that led to the front door of the convent. He ambled around the car and met Belle at the front it. She matched his pace as they followed the path that Emma had taken. Out of the corner of his eye, Rumpel could see her fidget with a button on her coat, as something occupied her mind. He let his gaze go around the grounds of the convent, fighting the urge to talk to her about it.

"I'm glad you changed your mind." Belle told him, her voice almost a whisper.

Rumpel glanced at her beside him. "I haven't changed my mind. I've just delayed my plan until I find my son and grandson."

"Well, I'm still glad you're here." She said matter-of-factly at him. He regarded her for a second, trying to see if she was being honest with him but she kept her head low. His heart fluttered at her. Rumpel had always thought she would want nothing to do with him ever again, after he had thrown her out of his castle. It made him tipsy that she was glad he was there.

As they neared the steps that went up to the porch of the property, they could hear Emma talking to someone. Rumpel looked up to see Emma talking to Mother Superior. The other woman did not look happy. He stopped at the bottom of the steps, unsure whether he was welcome, as Belle climbed the steps to join Emma. Rocking on the balls of his feet, Rumpel clasped his hands in front of him, uncomfortable with being so close to the head gnat.

"I'm sorry, Emma, but no." Mother Superior told her earnestly.

"Why not?" Emma asked. "We need the fairy dust to get to Neverland, so we can save Henry and Neal."

Mother Superior shook her head and pointed at Rumpel at the bottom of the steps. "Not if he's involved. He'll use it for some twisted plan. We've had our run-ins in the past and nothing he ever does is for the greater good."

"Dearie, if I wanted it, I'd just take it." Rumpel informed her.

"Just try it, Rumpelstiltskin." Mother Superior dared him, thrusting her pointed finger at him.

"Look, Mother Superior, he's not here for any other reason." Belle appealed to the Mother Superior, her hand taking hold of the hand that was gesturing towards Rumpel.

"We just want to get to Neverland and back." Emma pleaded. "I just want to find my son."

"And I want to find my son and grandson." Rumpel added, keeping his tone neutral so he did not provoke the fairy.

They must have weakened the Mother Superior's resolve, as she said. "We have limited stock of the fairy dust. But…" She paused to give Rumpel a look. "I could give you a small amount, enough to get a few of you to Neverland, but it wouldn't be enough to come back with."

"That'll be fine." Rumpel piped up and started to climb the steps to meet them on the porch. "Neverland has its own dust. We can get some more when we're there, which will give us enough for Bae and Henry."

"How do you know, there's fairy dust in Neverland?" Belle asked curiously, turning to face him.

He raised his eyebrows at her. "I've been there."

"You have?" Emma questioned, startled by his statement.

"I went there with my father." Rumpel informed them, casting his eyes down to the floor to hide the sadness in his eyes at the memory. Belle's hand clasped his hand at his side. His eyes went to their joined hands, confused but enjoying the intimacy. As Emma began to speak, Belle let of his hand and shoved her hand into his coat pocket.

"So, when we're in Neverland, we just need to get some more fairy dust?" Emma quizzed.

Rumpel shook his head at Emma as he looked up at her. "No. We can use pixie dust. It grows in Neverland."

"Ooh…" Mother Superior held her hand to her chest. "You have to be careful with pixie dust. It's stronger than fairy dust."

"Well, at least we have… somewhat of a plan now." Emma said unsurely as she pulled her phone out of her pocket. "I'll get the dust from Mother Superior and I'll call Regina."

"Seeing as I'm not needed at the moment," Rumpel declared, "I'm going home." and went down the steps of the convent. Walking off down the path, he took a deep breath with his thoughts centred on Belle. He opened his car door and paused holding the door open to look back at the convent. Rumpel did not know what he supposed to do. Drag her into his arms and tell her everything was going to be okay? Beg her to forgive him? Or was he supposed to forgive her for trying to change him?

Rumpel shook his thoughts away and got into his car to start it, a sadness weighed down on his shoulders. As he turned the car around and hastily drove out of the parking lot, the thought of maybe too much time had passed between them for it to work entered his mind. Because he was deep in thought, he missed the figure came running around the corner of the convent to catch him.


	6. Chapter 6

The fire crackled in Rumpel's living room, flickering light into the room to dance with the shadows on the walls. He sat in his shirt and pants with his socked feet resting on the coffee table, his shoes discarded in the hallway. It had been a long time since Rumpel had felt tired. A long time since he had to deal with the pain of his past. Happily, he had left it in a dark corner to forget for so long. However, talking about his father, and the mention of his mother, had stirred up some long forgotten feelings of loneliness.

Some people would have said he was lonely in New York, since the only person he had any real contact with was his secretary, Laura. He did not feel that he needed anyone else. Living for over two hundred years on his own, he had become accustomed to the silence. He never felt alone as he would think of Baelfire or Belle. Memories were the only company he needed at night.

He sipped at his whiskey and rested the glass into his lap, watching the show the fire was performing. It felt weird being back at his house, but it also felt like coming home. Twenty-eight years he had spent in this house, full of things from the Enchanted Forest. Sadly, it was a reminder of what he had lost and all the mistakes he had made over the years. When he left that morning, locking the front door had been a way for him to leave a lot of his baggage in Storybrooke. There was hardly anything in his penthouse from his old life in New York.

Sighing heavily at himself, Rumpel lifted his legs off the coffee table and finished the last of his whiskey as he stood to refill his glass in the kitchen. He padded across the wooden floor of his living room and entered the entrance hall, noticing through the windows that it was raining outside.

Entering the kitchen area of the house, there was a light on underneath one of the cupboards, softly illuminating the kitchen enough for Rumpel to see what he was doing. The bottle of whiskey sat waiting on the counter. As he poured another glass, Rumpel clicked his fingers to set his media system off playing some music. The woman's voice filled the house, chasing the silence away, and Rumpel began nodding his head with the rhythm, traipsing back to the living room with his glass.

The beat of the music picked up pace as the woman entered the chorus, making Rumpel's nodding increase to the beat. He had developed an interest in dance music. Doing business in New York had meant many meetings took place in the most unorthodox places, such as nightclubs.

Rumpel sat back onto his spot on the couch, remembering the night he had met with Angela to make their deal. They had sat in a VIP area of the nightclub and had drunk plenty between them. A carefree spirit had taken possession of Rumpel that night. He remembered he had been the one to lead her on, taking her onto the dancefloor, leading her to the beat. When she had invited him to her room, Rumpel thought about it, thinking how could he when he still loved Belle. Painfully, the reminder that she was dead stung him.

With that pain sitting hard on his chest, he had dragged Angela back to her room and ravished her body looking for a cure for his heartache. All it had given him was guilt, because he had thought of Belle the whole time. Living out fantasies, he had dreamt of her. As Angela had screamed his name, Rumpel had ignored her and pretended it was Belle. It was her that he had felt shudder against him. Her voice that had called his name out. Her fingernails had dug into his shoulders and pulled at his hair.

Shaking the guilt away, Rumpel sipped at his whiskey and leant his head back against the couch to watch the fire. The song changed to a slow beat song. He smiled at the memory of seeing the singer, Celine Dion, in Vegas when he had been on a business trip. Complimentary tickets, the envelope had said, left on the table in his room. After watching the show, he had asked Laura to download all of Celine Dion songs into his collection.

As the song went into the guitar solo and Celine's voice echoed with 'think twice', he was startled to hear a loud knock at his front door. Rumpel looked to the grandfather clock and saw it was nearly ten o'clock. Discarding his drink to the coffee table, Rumpel stood with a moan and shuffled to the front door. They knocked again.

"Okay! I'm coming!" He hollered entering the entrance hall and opened his front door, amazed to see her standing there. "Belle?"

"Can I come in? It's wet out here." She asked holding her hood firmly over the top of her head, trying to keep the rain from her hair. Dumbfounded he opened the door wider and gestured for her to enter. Rumpel closed the door behind her, watching her remove her coat as she stood in his entrance hall.

"I haven't seen it rain like this in a long time." Belle said as she spotted an empty coat peg on the wall and hooked her wet coat onto it. "It's got to be years since it did."

"I didn't realise you were Storybrooke's resident weather girl." He jested, ambling back to the couch. Belle hesitated in the opening to the living room, unsure whether she was supposed to be following him or staying put in the entrance hall. Sitting back into his spot, he noticed her hanging nervously in the entrance hall and beckoned her over to take a seat with a wave of his hand. Rumpel collected his glass from the coffee table and rested his feet onto the coffee table, observing her cross the living room to the fireplace to warm herself.

"Oh, that feels so nice after being outside in the cold. I didn't realise it would take me so long to walk here." Belle commented, putting her hands behind her back to warm them.

Rumpel sipped his drink, trying to ignore how good she looked illuminated by the fire. "Yes, well, what can I do for you, Belle?"

For a second, Rumpel was sure he saw a hint of resentment, or even hurt, flash across her face at his question. He was not stupid. People did not see people at this time of night for idle chitchat. Not in Storybrooke, they did not. If they had been in New York, then maybe. That city never slept.

"I came to tell you what was happening tomorrow." Belle said, stepping shyly to the armchair nearest the fire, still seeking some warmth as she sat down.

"And what's that, dearie?" He asked before taking another sip of his whiskey.

The song changed to one of Rumpel's favourites, his feet started bobbing to the tempo as she said. "We're going to meet at Regina's in the morning. Then four of you are going to fly to Neverland."

He was not listening. Rumpel's head was now nodding to the music as he mumbled along to the song. "Can't teach an old dog new tricks."

"Rumpelstiltskin?" She called bringing him back to her.

"Sorry." He apologised and then frowned at her as he told her. "You don't have to keep using my full name. You can call me Rumpel."

Belle raised her eyebrows at him. "I can? You told me, I had to call you Rumpelstiltskin at all times."

"I think we went pass being master and servant a long time ago." Rumpel shrugged at his old instruction, not even recalling when he had told her that.

"Oh… Okay, Rumpel." She said trying out his shorten name. He could not help the smile and rubbed at the heavy tug in his chest.

Belle's smile was wide as she spoke to him, melting him inwardly. "So, like I said, everyone is meeting at Regina's in the morning. We have enough fairy dust for four of you to fly to Neverland."

"And who, dearie, is deciding who goes?" Rumpel asked picking some lint off his pant leg.

"There's no choosing." She shook her head at him. "It'll be Emma, Regina, Charming and you, of course."

"Wow!" He exclaimed looking up from his pant leg to Belle, shocked he was going. "They're letting me go on this excursion, are they?"

"Why wouldn't they?" Belle queried, frowning at him.

Rumpel held his arms out wide, making his drink slosh in the glass. "Hello! Dark One in the house!" He dropped his arms back into lap and mentally decided he may have had too much to drink. "They don't want me to go. I'm sure you have all been a lot happier knowing I was gone." He told her and drank the last of his whiskey.

"I'm not going to deny that some people were glad you were gone." She told him honestly. "Some of us weren't though."

"Oh, really, dearie." He chided lifting his legs off the coffee table and stood up to leave the room. Rumpel let a small smile grace his lips, thinking how sweet she was to try to save his feelings, lying to him. He knew the people of Storybrooke were happy he left. A lot of them were upset that he was back, even if it was for Henry and Baelfire's sake. The stares and whispers followed him wherever he went. Just simply buying a few things from the convenience store had been an annoyance, with people blatantly staring at him.

Bumping his hip into the kitchen counter, Rumpel spun the lid off the bottle of whiskey and poured himself another drink. As he put the bottle down onto the counter, he watched Belle strode out of the living room towards him as he screwed the lid back onto the bottle. He noted to himself, as he sipped his whiskey, something had put purpose in her stride.

"Why is it so hard?" Belle questioned him, bracing herself against the other side of the kitchen counter.

Rumpel pursed his lips at her question. "Why is what so hard?"

"Why is it so hard for you to believe that you're wanted?" She expanded her question, irritation an undertone as she spoke.

"Because I'm not." He replied chuckling at the obvious as he strode pass her towards the living room.

Belle grabbed him by his arm and stopped him. "But you are!"

Rumpel turned his head to look at her, really looked at her. Belle was beautiful in the soft lighting of the kitchen. The smile she had worn earlier was long gone. Her brow creased with a tension he had never seen before on her. The kindness and honesty in her eyes gone, replaced with urgency and longing. Rumpel was not sure what it all meant, he had never seen anyone look at him like that before.

The phone in his pocket shrilled to life, vibrating against his leg. Keeping his eyes on Belle, Rumpel reached into his pocket and opened it with his thumb to answer it in one movement. Belle's hand remained on his forearm.

"Gold."

"Sorry to call you so late, Mr Gold." Laura apologised.

Rumpel let his gaze fall from Belle to his feet. "No, its fine, Laura. What's up?"

She paused before she spoke to him. "I've just been informed the deal between Tacka and Imperial Oil has fell through."

"What!" He put his drink down on the kitchen counter. "That just had to be signed."

"Yes, I know." Laura said. From her tone, Rumpel knew there was more.

"Go on. Tell me." Rumpel told her, bracing down onto the counter.

"Andrews was in charge of the deal."

He closed his eyes and kicked himself mentally. "Where are Tacka and Imperial Oil now?"

"Tacka is at Regis and the representative from Imperial Oil is at Park Hyatt." She informed him.

"Right and where are you?" Rumpel enquired, leaving the kitchen to the entrance hall, and shoved his feet into his shoes.

"Where I always am, sir, at my desk." She said. Rumpel could hear her smile.

"Set the meetings, Laura, I will be back in New York in an hour. Meet me at my penthouse." He told her and then added. "Remind me to give you a big bonus."

She giggled. "Sir, you always give me a big bonus."

The line went dead. Rumpel rolled his eyes at Laura and closed his phone to put back in his pocket. He stopped and looked at the bottle on the kitchen counter. Earlier he had started a fresh bottle of whiskey, now there was only a third of it left. His gaze went from the bottle to Belle. Rumpel was troubled between leaving and staying. He wanted to know where this conversation was going, but he knew he had to take care of the deal as it meant too much. Slowly his eyes went to the whiskey bottle as a plan formulated in his head.

"You're going back to New York?" Belle asked quietly from the kitchen.

He looked from the bottle of whiskey to her again. "No."

"You just told her…" Belle started to say and Rumpel interrupted her. "We're going to New York."

"What!" Belle exclaimed at him. "I can't go to New York."

"Yes, you can. I'll just do this," He clicked his fingers causing a light mist of light over Belle. "Now you won't suffer anything from leaving Storybrooke. And you are going to drive me." Rumpel informed her as he crossed over to her in the kitchen.

He watched her shake her head at him. "We can't go! You're supposed to be going to Neverland in the morning."

"And I will." He told her, clasping at her upper arms to still her. "We'll be back in the morning." Belle kept shaking her head, fighting her inner turmoil of going to New York. Rumpel sighed and touched her chin making her stop and focus on him.

"I can't drive. I've drank too much." He lied to her, knowing he could magic the effects away, and dropped his arms back to his sides. "I need to fix this deal. Otherwise, a lot of people are going to lose their jobs."

"They will?" She asked surprised.

"Yes." He took a breath. "So, I need you to drive me. Once we're there, you can go to my penthouse whilst I sort this out. And then by morning, I'll be able to drive us back here." He explained to her.

It took a while for Belle to nod her head at him. As she nodded, Rumpel was so relieved that he clasped her face and kissed her forehead. His action startled him as he walked away from her to grab his keys as if it was normal. Clenching at his keys from the entrance hall table, he paused to take a breath and held his free hand to his lips. The feel of her soft skin was too much. It was bewitching to be close to her.

"If I'm going, then let's go." She said somewhere behind him, but Rumpel was lost in the smell of her hair.

The sound of the front door opening woke him from daze. Rumpel marched towards the front door and clicked his fingers to kill the fire and music in the house. Following Belle out into the rain, he cursed clambering down the steps and trudged over the grass to his car. She was already inside the car when he yanked open the passenger door and dropped ceremonially into the passenger seat, quickly shutting the door.

"I did say it was raining." Belle told him, giggling at the sight of him. Rumpel smiled. Slowly he swept his hair back over his forehead, smoothing his wet hair off his face. He could feel Belle staring at him as he started pressing buttons on the dash, starting the car and putting the heating on full.

"Right." He said pulling his seat belt on. "Just take your time and try not to kill us." The glare he received only encouraged his smile to widen as she reversed out of his driveway.

Celine Dion – Think Twice  
Seasick Steve – You Can't Teach an Old Dog New Tricks


	7. Chapter 7

Rumpel directed Belle to pull his car into the turning that led to the underground parking of his building. The shutter to the underground parking rose as the car crept slowly towards it. As they came around the bend leading down into the parking garage, Rumpel instructed her to pull the car into one of the free spaces. Instead, she stopped the car in the middle of the parking garage and put the car into park.

"Rumpel, don't make me park it!" She said slumping in the driver's seat. "It's bad enough I've drove all the way here."

He chuckled opening the passenger door. "Okay, get out and I'll park it."

Rumpel greeted Belle as she climbed out of the driver's side, standing nearby if she needed help and waited to get into the car. He watched as she stumbled out of his way. Her experience of driving his car had an unsteadying effect on her. Rumpel got in with a smirk on his face and quickly put the car into a parking space, and got out to lock it as he headed over to the elevator.

"Come on." He waved for her to follow him, stepping into the elevator when the doors opened. Belle skipped into the elevator, scared the doors would close on her. Rumpel smiled as he pushed the button to take them to his penthouse. She hugged the opposite corner, watching the counter above the panel for the buttons. Out of the corner of his eye, Rumpel observed her, still trying to figure out what had happened in his kitchen. Where was their conversation going to lead?

The doors opened onto the penthouse and Rumpel walked out into the foyer, leaving Belle to follow in her own time. Waltzing into the living area, Rumpel crossed over to Laura where she was waiting on one of his couches, her phone in her hands as she typed furiously into it.

"Laura." He greeted touching her shoulder. "Are the meetings set?"

Laura finished her text and then slid her phone into her handbag. "Yes, sir. Each one will meet you for drinks at their hotel."

"Good." Rumpel said as he crossed the room to the doorway of his bedroom. As he entered his bedroom, Rumpel began to strip off his shirt and pants and kicked off his shoes in the doorway of his wardrobe. He toss his clothes to one bench that sat in the middle of the room and crossed to where his rails of clothes were located. In the other room, he heard Laura greet Belle.

"Would you like a drink?" Laura asked as Rumpel pulled on a pair of black pants, relishing the feel of his clothes he had in New York compared to the ones he had in Storybrooke.

"Erm… Tea would be nice." Belle replied as he pulled open a draw.

Selecting one of his grey thin woollen jumpers, he pulled the jumper over his head as he went to his collection of shoes. "Milk and sugar?"

"Just a dab of milk." Belle said. He selected a pair of shoes from his collection and took them to the mirror.

As Rumpel looked at himself in the mirror, he slipped his shoes on and crouched down to tie his laces. "So, you work for Rumpel?"

"For Mr Gold?" Laura questioned whilst Rumpel combed his fingers through his hair.

"Oh, yeah, sorry. For Mr Gold?" Belle corrected. He shook his head at Belle, selecting an expensive watch from his collection and shut the draw.

"Yes." Laura answered. "I've been with him since he started the company." Rumpel came out of his bedroom, fastening the watch around his left wrist. The two women were huddled around his bar, Belle watched as Laura poured the hot water into a cup. He tugged at his jumper, conscious of how he looked.

"Do you enjoy working for him?" Belle questioned, not knowing Rumpel had entered the room.

Laura looked to Belle from the cup in front of her. "I wouldn't work for him, if I didn't."

"And she gets paid handsomely for it as well." Rumpel interjected crossing over to the bar, gaining the women's attention. "Laura, have you got the details for the clients?"

Nodding her head at him, she finished Belle's tea and handed it to her as she passed to come out from behind the bar. "Yes, I've got a file for you in my bag." Laura grabbed the file out of her handbag over the back of the couch and gave it to Rumpel, who began to flick through and read it. "They know that it will be you attending the meeting. There is no time set. Just ring them and they'll come down to the bar." Laura told him, smiling briefly at him.

"Thank you." Rumpel said and leant into her to kiss her cheek. "Now, go home and sleep."

"Yes, sir." Laura replied grabbing her handbag and gave Belle a brief wave before walking to the elevator. Whilst she left, Rumpel ambled to the bar and pulled a stool out as he read the file she had handed to him. Belle moved around the bar to join him, slurping at her tea.

"What does she do for you?" Belle asked as she hopped onto the stool next to Rumpel.

"She's my secretary." Rumpel answered absently, more concerned with the contents of the file.

"And she's just your secretary?"

He stopped reading, his gaze remaining on the pages in the file. Her tone had caught his attention. Rumpel slowly turned his head to look at her beside him, studying her. Her fingers played with the handle of her cup, tracing the arch back and forth. His eyebrow raised at her, not sure what she had meant by the tone. Jealousy?

"Did I miss something?" Rumpel asked Belle, leaning forward onto the bar with his forearms.

Belle raised her eyebrows at him, the speed of her finger tracing the handle increased. "Oh… I… I didn't mean anything by it. You just seem… very familiar with her."

"I've worked with Laura for fifteen months. Spent a lot of time with her." He told her, seeing her eyes saddened with every word. "But none of that time was pleasure. Just business."

"So… You two have never…?" Belle asked with her voice full of hope.

Rumpel was not sure what she was hoping for, but answered her nonetheless. "No. Never."

He shook his head at the conversation and went back to reading the file in front of him. Turning the page, Rumpel noticed that Belle was fidgeting beside him. She was either messing with her clothes or playing with the teacup, and it was beginning to distract him. Rumpel took a deep breath and pushed forward, scanning over another page to get himself up to date with the recent negotiation.

"So, you live here alone?" Belle asked as she placed her cup down on the bar after taking a sip. He ignored her question and concentrated on the papers, turning to another page in the file. Rumpel did not understand why she was asking questions on this subject. There may have once been something between them, but she had only done what she did to break him. To destroy the beast. As much as he would love to take her in his arms and confess his undying love for her, he was sure she did not feel the same.

"That's some view, isn't it?" She scooted off the stool and cradled her cup between her hands, walking over to the window to look down over New York. Rumpel gave up on reading the file and closed it to leave on the side as he stood off his stool. Going over to his office door, he surveyed her over his shoulder by the window, his heart fluttering at the sight of her.

He shoved his office door open, it swoosh to a slow stop, allowing him access. Walking around his desk, he lifted the lid on his laptop and took a seat at his desk. Quickly Rumpel accessed his emails, seeing Laura had sent him a couple about events that had happened at work.

"Wow!" Belle exclaimed from the doorway. "The view from this side is even more amazing."

"Yeah." He said vaguely, scratching at his forehead as he read the email Laura had sent him about Andrews. The ass was trying to steal his clients, promising them a cheaper deal at Zegman's if they held off signing till then. Rumpel had to hand it to the man, he had balls, but he may not have them for very long if Rumpel got his hands on him. The audacity of the man to think, he would ever get one over on Rumpel.

"Oh my god! You still have it!" She was suddenly at his desk and grabbed the chipped cup from its display stand. A flash of fear swept over him. Seeing his priceless chipped cup removed from its safe haven and tousled between her hands made Rumpel's inners twist. He leapt out of his chair to bend over his desk and snatched the cup out of her hands. Preciously he cradled it between his hands, examining it as he turned it. The only thing that had kept him somewhat sane over the last thirty years, he would not be able to bear it if it got damaged or broken.

He held the cup close to his chest. "Yes, I do! And if you don't mind," Rumpel carefully placed it back onto its stand. "I would rather you left it alone." He told her, sitting back into his chair, his eyes focused on the teacup where it sat safely on his desk.

Her eyes looked teary at him, but he ignored it turning back to his laptop, as she spoke. "Sorry, I just… couldn't help myself."

"It's fine." Rumpel told her getting up from his chair to walk around his desk. "I'm going to finalise this deal. Make yourself at home whilst I'm gone."

"Do you mind if I use your laptop?" Belle asked, pointing to his laptop.

He paused in the doorway to his office, looking at her over his shoulder. "Knock yourself out."

Leaving her in his office, Rumpel strode into the foyer and pressed the call button for the elevator. The doors opened after a couple of minutes and Rumpel stepped inside to press the ground floor button. He cursed himself for being so cold with her but he was unsure about what her intentions were towards him. Gambling with his heart again was not high on his agenda. He also did not want to find that the voices inside his head were right about her. That she only kissed him to break his curse, not because she loved Rumpel. His groan echoed in the elevator as he slumped against the metal wall, touching his hand to his forehead.


	8. Chapter 8

Smug with himself that he had managed to salvage the deal, Rumpel exited the elevator smiling at his cunningness. The rooms were dark as he entered and paused in the living area to look for Belle. It was nearly six o'clock in the morning. A small trace of the sun rose in the distance of his view. He strained to see if she was lying on the couch and stepped over to his office to see if she was in there. No sign of her anywhere. Rumpel wandered over to his bedroom doorway and spotted her lying on his bed, her face buried in the pillow she was tightly cuddling.

Cautiously he entered the bedroom, trying to keep his footsteps quiet, and made his way over to her. The only sound in the room was Belle's heavy breathing. Rumpel could not help the smile that tugged at his lips and a warm feeling grew in his chest. Angling his head to one side, he gazed at her face as she slept peacefully. It was a sad reminder of what could have been.

Rumpel pulled himself away from the sight of her and left his bedroom, combing some of his hair back out of his face. He checked his watch for the time and decided he would make her breakfast since they would have to leave early for Storybrooke. Traipsing pass the bar, he turned the corner and entered his kitchen to open the fridge. He decided to make them bacon and eggs with some toast, and collected the ingredients from the fridge. It had been a long time since he had made breakfast for anyone. Baelfire was probably the last person.

Because he was so busy cooking, Rumpel did not feel the eyes that were watching him as he went about his kitchen. Plating their food, as he reached behind him for the fridge door, Rumpel spotted Belle watching him out of the corner of his eye. Startled he held his hand over his chest and snatched the orange juice from the fridge. When he shut the fridge door, Rumpel watched Belle wander around the kitchen island to the other side and sat onto one of the stools.

"That smells lovely." Belle commented looking over at the food he had prepared.

He poured her a glass of orange juice and offered it and her plate towards her. "Here you go."

"Thank you." She said taking the plate and the orange juice, and studied her plate as she put it down onto the counter. Rumpel pulled open a draw and grabbed them a knife and fork each before taking his breakfast around to her side of the counter. He did not feel right taking the stool beside her, so left one between them, and sat down onto a stool.

"You have a nice home." Belle said between mouthfuls.

Rumpel looked over at her. "This is one of the finest apartment buildings in New York."

She nodded her head at him. "With a view like this," Belle waved to the view behind them as she spoke. "I'm surprised it's not number one."

"Well… It may have been till some riff raff moved in." He told her before biting into his toast.

"Riff raff?" She questioned stabbing at her eggs.

"Me." Rumpel chuckled at himself, but Belle did not look amused by his joke. Rolling his eyes, he finished his breakfast and drank his orange juice. She was still eating as he collected his plate and glass and took them to the sink, leaving them for his housekeeper.

"Why do you do that?" Belle asked as she laid her knife and fork on the plate. "Why do you have to put yourself down?"

He came around the island and collected her plate and glass, quickly returning to the sink. "I guess… Because there's no one in my life to make me feel better about myself."

Rumpel ambled out of the kitchen area and went into the living area to escape their conversation. He did not feel like talking about himself. It was bad enough that she was unsettling him, but to start talking about his scars was a no go zone. Especially as she held the biggest scar on his heart.

Whilst he had been at the meetings last night, Rumpel had tried to fathom what she was after. He was intrigued as to why she need to know about Laura and whether he lived alone. It troubled him, particularly when it gave way to the hope and he did not want it to linger. He had done that once. Rumpel had allow the hope to open his heart. Hoping this beautiful woman would come back to him because she wanted to be with him. That she wanted to have a life with him. That she loved him. Not because she had some crusade to rid him of his curse.

Her heels clipping and clopping on the floor came into the room behind him. Stopping in the middle of the room, Rumpel turned to face her looking at his watch. They had nearly killed an hour by having breakfast and if they left now, they would miss the commuter traffic.

"Have you got everything?" Rumpel asked her, letting his arm fall back to his side. "You don't want to have come back here."

"I've got everything." Belle said walking to the couch, where her coat laid over the back. For a second, Rumpel thought there was something about how she spoke. An underlying tone that was supposed to convey a meaning to him.

He smiled weakly at her and waved his arm in the direction of the foyer. "At least you don't have to drive my car again."

"I don't know… Maybe I could get used to it." Belle surmised as she walked pass him. His smile turned into a grin as he fell into step behind her. He followed her into the foyer and stopped behind her whilst she pressed the button to call the lift. Intently Rumpel watched her, studying her, trying to see if there were answers to his questions written on the skin of her neck. Other people he could read like a book. However, with her, she was a code he was yet to break.

The elevator pinged and the doors opened. Belle checked over her shoulder at him, stepping forward towards the elevator. He followed her quietly and pressed the parking lot button as he entered. Leaning against the back of the elevator, he closed his eyes and gripped the metal handrail that ran around the elevator. Fingers threaded into his hair, brushing it back from his face, as a pair of lips lightly brushed against his own. Rumpel sharply inhaled at the touch. Another hand splayed over his cheek, holding him as the lips assaulted his own.

Ping, the elevator chimed when they reached the parking garage. Rumpel opened his eyes and was disappointed at the sudden loss of her lips and hands. Confused he looked over to her as she walked out of the elevator with her coat over her arm. He frowned at himself, hesitantly making his way out of the elevator behind her. Was he daydreaming?

"You okay?" Belle asked, stopping midway between him and the car. "You've gone really red?"

Rumpel shook his head at her. "No, I'm fine. The car's open."

As she turned and went to the car, Rumpel swept some of his hair back, tracing the path the hand had taken. His skin tingled just as it did when she had touched his fingers in the library. Rumpel stood waiting by the driver's door whilst he watched Belle open the passenger door. If he did not know her any better, he would have sworn she was a witch. At least then, it would explain the magical hold she had over him.

He climbed into the driver's seat and greeted Belle with a smile. "I bet you'll be glad to get back to Storybrooke."

Belle frowned at him whilst he started the car and put the car to reverse. "Why would you think that? It's actually been nice to get out and see a little bit of the world."

"I didn't think of it like that." Rumpel replied reversing out of the spot and drove out of the parking lot. They drove through New York in silence, listening to the music that was on low. Rumpel kept glancing at her, feigning that he was checking his wing mirror, and tried to understand her. She was a lot more confident than when she was at his castle. It was probably due to her not being under his and her father's ruling. A chance for the young girl to turn into a woman. There was a strength in her that Rumpel wished he had in himself.

"So…" Belle drawled, running her finger across the dash in front of her. "Did you miss me after I left?"

Briefly, he blatantly glanced over at her before focusing back on the road. "Course I did."

"Really?" She declared, sounding shocked.

"The castle got dusty and no one made me tea." Rumpel replied, playing it down. If it were a perfect world, he would tell her he had locked himself away and cried. Tell her that he had sat in her library, smelling the cushion he had given her. He would tell her that he had tried to find her with a locating spell, but it would not work. This was not a perfect world though and neither was Rumpel.

He turned his attention to Belle. "After you left, where did you go? You never said."

Belle watched the 'leaving New York' sign as they drove pass. "Erm… I went on an adventure. Saved a village."

"Really?" He pouted his lips at the thought before adding. "That ticks your boxes for being brave, seeing the world and being a hero."

"It was funny. I spent all that time wanting to go out and see the world, and when I finally had the chance all I wanted to do…" She went quiet, her fingers fidgeting with her skirt.

Her silence drew Rumpel's attention over to her, worried about her. "Wanted to what?"

Belle took a deep breath and gazed over at him. "I wanted to go home."

"That's expected, Belle." He scoffed at her, checking his mirror before overtaking the car in front. "You spent months with someone that kept you from your family and friends. Of course, you would want to go back to them. That's a natural reaction."

"No, Rumpel." Her voice was quiet as she spoke.

"No what?" He asked pulling back across into their lane.

"I was coming" Belle paused and touched his hand that rested on the centre console between them. "Home to you."

"What!" Rumpel shouted. He jerked his hand from hers to grab the steering wheel and slammed on the brakes, screeching to a halt on the shoulder of the road. Her hand braced herself against the dash, as she was jolted in her seat. The car groaned to a halt, surrounded in a cloud of dust that slowly dissipated.

Rumpel stared at the steering wheel in front of him, his knuckles white as he clenched the wheel. His breathing was heavy. He concentrated on the steering wheel, otherwise he was about to explode. Rumpel had known there had to be more to how she had ended up in the asylum and, of course, was not dead, as Regina had told him. With the knowledge that she was coming home to him and someone had stopped her made his blood boil.

"Rumpel, it's okay." She told him, reaching for his hand on the steering wheel.

His voice was deep when he spoke. "What happened?"

Her hand, she was reaching with, froze in mid-air. He allowed his eyes to follow her arm to her face, his forehead tight with the frown that pressed down over his eyes. Belle slowly retracted her hand and turned her gaze away from him.

"I was captured." Belle replied quickly.

"By who?" Rumpel spat. He could tell she was choosing her words, protecting people when they did not deserve it. Snatching her hand out of her lap, Rumpel turned in his seat towards her and squeezed her hand firmly. As he thought about all the nights that he had punished himself, blaming himself and everyone for her death, he concocted a hideous torture for whoever dared to come between Belle and him.

"Tell me!" He desperately pleaded.

Rumpel barely heard her whisper. "Regina."

Time stood still while he sat there holding her hand. Her pleads were ignored. Rumpel would have their revenge. The cheek of Regina to think that she had the right to come between them disgusted him. Regina, as the Evil Queen, was only jealous of what he had with Belle. Resentful that he would rather spend more time at his Dark Castle with Belle, then carry on his teachings and mentoring of her. And, of course, Rumpel no longer flirted with her anymore. Everything had become business after Belle had come to his castle.

Regina would pay for what she did. First, everyone she cared about would hurt and…

Rumpel's vengeful thoughts broke, by Belle's hand touching the side of his face. She had undone her seat belt and was, somehow, kneeling in her seat, her face close to him. Her thumb stroked at the top of his cheek, brushing across his temple. As he looked into her eyes, the anger that had boiled over began to simmer at the coolness of her touch. Her bewitching power was working its magic. The beast was subdued.

"Don't, Rumpel." She pleaded with a tear rolling down her cheek. Watching the tear, Rumpel reached to her face and brushed it away with his thumb, his hand lingered near her cheek. He hated to see her cry.

Belle weakly smiled at him. "It doesn't matter what happened in the past. Don't let her ruin the future we could have."

"Future?" He muttered with his eyes watching her lips as she spoke. It had been a long time since he had seen those luscious red lips up close. They moved towards him, her hand slid across his face to his hair. Tentatively her lips brushed against his as her other hand came to touch his cheek.

A realisation dawned on Rumpel, in the elevator it had been a vision of the future. His hands clasped either side of her face, encouraging her to press her lips firmly to his own as he took control. She groaned into his mouth when he opened his mouth to her, his fingers traced the sensitive skin of her neck. Hands explored the other, fingertips pressed and nails clawed at bare skin of the others neck.

Belle jerked away from him and hissed in pain. "Ow!"

"What?" Rumpel mumbled with his mind elsewhere.

"The buckle was digging into my knee." She laughed as she pointed to the offending item. He leaned over to see it. Belle sat back into her seat disappointing Rumpel. They gazed at each other, their breathing heavy. They did not need to speak with a blissful feeling overcoming them.


	9. Chapter 9

The streets were quiet and, as always, traffic had been non-existent when they had entered Storybrooke. Rumpel turned into Regina's street and told himself to behave himself. Belle had been right. There was no point in doing anything to Regina. It had happened and it was over. However, the voices in his head were also right. Regina deserved whatever came to her. Whether Rumpel helped whatever came to her was between him and her grave.

He grinned at the thought of Regina dead as he parked the car by the kerb in front of Regina's house. Since there kiss on the side of the highway, they had been holding hands over the centre console, talking about old times and future plans. Rumpel gave her hand a quick squeeze whilst he tugged on the door handle to open his door. They let go of the other's hand and climbed out of the car. He swept his gaze around the neighbourhood, old memories coming to mind as he shut his car door.

"Promise me," Belle began to say as Rumpel came around the back of the car towards her on the sidewalk. "You're not going to do anything to Regina. She's told me she's sorry and I believe her."

"Sweetheart, if that's what you want, then I promise I won't touch her." He told her with a grin.

Belle shook her head at him and pointed her finger at him. "Rumpel, promise you won't do – anything – to Regina."

"I promise." He promised letting the grin fall from his face to look serious. "I won't harm her."

"Good." She said breaking out into a smile. They walked together to the archway that led to Regina's path to her house. Rumpel was surprised when Belle's arm snaked its way around his arm. He smiled warmly at her whilst he touched his other hand on top of her arm, welcoming the intimate touch. It had been too long since he had felt this closeness from a woman, or even a woman he loved.

They followed the path to Regina's front door and stopped just short of the door. Rumpel reached out and stabbed the doorbell with his finger, giving the metal button some punishment for being Regina's doorbell. Regina's heels clicked on the wooden flooring on the other side of the door. The door opened wide and Regina ushered them into her house. With a hand on Belle's back, he guided her into the house in front of him, glaring at Regina as he passed her coming into the hallway.

She closed the door and jogged up the steps leading them to the dining room in front of them. "Emma and Charming aren't here yet. Do you want a drink or anything?"

"Tea would be nice." Belle replied pulling out a chair at the table.

Regina looked at Rumpel for his order, but he waved his hand to gesture to the kitchen. "I'll come and help you."

She shrugged her shoulders at him and went through the doorway into the kitchen. Following behind her, Rumpel glanced back at Belle for a second and turned back to allow his frown on his forehead to deepen. He kicked the doorstop out from the door and let the door shut between the kitchen and dining room.

"What would you like, Rumpel?" Regina asked filling the kettle with water.

He ambled further into her kitchen whilst she put the kettle back on its stand and clicked the on button. "Oh, I don't want a drink, dearie. But, I do want something."

"Oh," She pulled a face of confusion at him, resting her hands on the kitchen island that divided them. "What's that?"

"I'd like to know, what made you think, it would be a good idea to kidnap Belle?" Rumpel asked as he clasped his hands in front of him, glaring at her.

Regina froze with her eyes wide. "Belle told you?"

"Oh, dearie." He drew out the dearie, slowly moving around the kitchen counter towards her. "You need to learn that things will always, come back to bite you in the ass."

"Rumpel, I'm so" She began to tell him, but was cut off when Rumpel held his hand up and squeezed, choking her with an invisible hand.

"I have told you a million times! Do not interfere with my affairs!" Rumpel's voice was deep when he spoke to her, grinning at the fear in her eyes as she clasped her hands around her throat. "How could you dare to stand in front of me and lie to me about Belle!"

He flicked his hand and flung her to the wall behind her. The force vibrated through the wall and shook the pictures. Regina struggled to breath, gasping as she tried to draw a breath where she knelt on the floor. A quiet voice called from the other room but did not reach the occupants of the kitchen ears. Slowly Rumpel sauntered towards Regina, his closeness made Regina quickly stand up and press against the wall behind her.

As he reached a finger out to run down her cheek, a tear threatened to escape at the corner of her eye. "I'm not going to hurt you but only because I promised Belle. But if you ever touch her again, I will kill you without a second thought."

"Hey!" Belle's voice called as the kitchen door pushed open, creaking on its hinges. "What was that noise?"

Belle held the door opened and looked around the room until she found where they both stood. The scolding look he received from Belle would have been enough to make any man quiver back in fear. Turning his attention back to Regina, Rumpel stroked his thumb over where the tear had sat on the edge of her eye. Regina's eyes were full of confusion in the change in his demeanour.

"It's okay, Belle." He told her stepping away from Regina and moved towards Belle at the door. "Regina slipped on the floor. It's still wet from earlier when she'd mopped it. Isn't it, Regina?"

"Yeah… Be careful." Regina's voice was hoarse as she spoke. Pleased with her answer, Rumpel smiled to himself passing Belle to leave the kitchen. Feeling contented Rumpel pulled out the chair at the head of the table and sat down into it, pulling his phone out of his pocket. He was going through his emails as Belle drew the chair out near him, huffing into the chair. The pointed look she gave him was not missed. He did not need to look up at her, or magic, to know that she did not believe the lie.

Just as he was opening an email on his phone, Belle snatched it out of his hand and tossed it onto the table. Rumpel raised an eyebrow at her, raising his head to look at her. Her lips pressed into a tight line, her displeasure evident on her face. The disappointment in her eyes struck a nerve deep inside him. Even though Rumpel knew he was about to get an ear bashing from her, he could not help but think how sexy she looked when she was mad at him. The fiery temper of his sweet Belle a turn on.

"You promised me!" She said infuriated. Inwardly Rumpel wanted to yank her out of the chair and slam her down onto the table to assault her lips and body. It was definitely not the right time for that sort of thing. Especially as she looked like she was about to try and drop kick him out of the door.

"I promised you that I would not harm her." Rumpel retorted, flinging his hand in the direction of Regina in the kitchen. "She's alive, isn't she?"

"Oh, you're such a… Bastard at times!" Belle told him with her eyebrows scrunching down over her eyes.

"No, dear, I am a bastard all the time, helped by the fact I was abandoned by both my parents. But thank you for the reminder!" He said flippantly at her.

Her head jerked at his words. "Don't you turn this around to make me feel sorry for you!"

He laughed at her while rolling his eyes, and said. "Feel sorry for me? Don't be silly, dearie. Why would anyone be sorry for me?"

"Don't get me started on that!" Belle pointed her finger at him as she spoke.

"Oh, don't you worry!" He told her leaning forward onto the table towards her. "I won't get you started on that. I don't want to hear all this bullshit about how I'm this and how I'm that."

"Good!" She cried standing up abruptly from her chair, nearly knocking it over, and stormed out of the room. Rumpel closed his eyes at her fleeing form, irritated by the victory cry of the voices in his head. It had been a long time since he had allowed them to win and it sickened him they had won.

Annoyed at himself, Rumpel jumped up out of his chair, knocking it over with the force, and ran out of the dining room. She had already left the house, slamming the door shut behind her. He leaped down the steps and snatched the door open to find the Charmings on the other side of the door. They tried to question him as he burst through them, sprinting down the path to the sidewalk.

He skidded to a stop on the sidewalk when he came through the bush archway, quickly looking up and down the street to see where she had gone. Belle was stomping her way off to his left. Dashing after her, Rumpel managed to catch up to her and grabbed her hand, as it swung, to spin her round to face him. She was alarmed and snatched her hand out of his hand.

"I don't do this!" Rumpel blurted out at her, breathing heavily.

"What?" She exclaimed at him, her eyes darting up and down his body.

He took a deep breath to calm himself. "I don't know how to do this."

"What is wrong with you!" Belle hollered at him, her anger peaking again.

"You!" Rumpel shouted back at her, grabbing hold of her by her shoulders.

Belle's face scrunched up at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You drive me insane!" He said forcefully and shook her by her shoulders.

"I'll save your sanity for you, shall I!" She yelled turning out of his hold to break it and stormed off away from him.

Exacerbated by himself, Rumpel stumbled watching her walk away from him and shouted after her. "I didn't mean it like that! I'm sorry!"

Belle did not turn and carried on down the sidewalk, waving her arm dismissively at him. Annoyed Rumpel kicked the bush that was in front of him and carried on watching her walk away. He could persuade people to do whatever he wanted, strike a deal with the most awkward people and outwit everyone. With Belle, Rumpel was a lost. She was an enigma. Just when he thought he had cracked it, he would find that he was back at the start, trying to find his way back into her heart.

Running his hand through his hair, Rumpel turned back towards Regina's house and made his way there. He brushed against the hedge when he turned into her archway. The Charmings and Regina stood on the doorstep waiting for him. Groaning at the thought of them, Rumpel came to stop a couple of feet from them and held his hand over his face, reminding himself that this was for Baelfire and Henry.

"That went well." Regina chided at him with a smirk, her voice still recovering.

Rumpel let his hand fall from his face and glared at her. "Would you like round two, dearie?"

Regina rubbed absently at her neck, her smirk now gone. "No, thank you."

"Shall we get on with this?" Charming tried to change the subject, looking between Regina and Rumpel.

"Let's get this over with." Rumpel muttered moving towards the group. Emma began to explain what the Mother Superior had told her. 'Think happy thoughts!'. At that moment in time, thinking happy thoughts was the last thing on his mind. He knew he was right to follow her. It was a shame that his mind had retreated in the opposite direction, leaving him without a paddle to defend himself against Belle.

He began to think about how fate was trying to tell him something. 'You two were never meant to be', a voice told him in his head. It was probably right. They would always get a happy moment and then it would be torn away by a stupid action of his. It was his fault and he could admit that. He would even beg for forgiveness. Rumpel could not bear the thought of hurting her. Maybe it was better this way and fate was trying to tell him that. Letting her go would be the best thing for her.

Emma touched his arm as she shook the dust over him. "Happy thoughts, Gold."

"Oh, yeah, I've got plenty of them." He mumbled. She gave him a weak smile before shaking the dust over herself. Rumpel observed as Charming and Emma began to lift off the ground and float in the air. After some deep thinking, Regina lifted off the ground and joined the other two, waiting for Rumpel.

Sighing heavily, Rumpel closed his eyes and went through his memories. There were so many with bad thoughts, it seemed fruitless to find one that had a happy thought with it. Thinking of Belle was not helping in that moment. Rumpel went further back in his memories and thought about Baelfire, clutching his baby boy to his chest when he had returned from the front line. The bundle of joy in his arms had touched him deeper than anyone, firmly holding onto his father's heart.

Rumpel opened his eyes to see himself rise from the ground, joining the others where they waited above. They all nodded to one another and followed Emma as she flew up towards the clouds. As he flew up, Rumpel glanced back down at Storybrooke, promising her, wherever she was, that he would let her be happy from now on.


	10. Chapter 10

The darkness shrouded around the campsite, kept back by the light of the campfire. Holding his chin in his hand, his elbow propped on his knee, Rumpel hunched over where he sat on a fallen tree trunk. The others were sleeping in the clearing, tired after the long trek through the jungle as they tried to find Pan's camp. Rumpel had been in a sour mood since leaving Storybrooke, annoyed with himself with what had happened between Belle and him. Following the other's through the jungle, he had cursed himself every step of the way and wished he had a spell for turning back time.

For so long he had managed to fight the urges of the voices. While living in New York, he had more control over the urges than he ever did in Storybrooke or the Enchanted Forest. The temptation to give into them was stronger the closer he was to his old life and to the magic. As much as there was magic in New York, he had no reason to use it anymore due to the power he had there.

Regina stirred and sat up onto her hip, propping herself with her arm, and ran her fingers through her hair to find a small twig in it. As Rumpel leant up from his knees, Regina scowled at the twig before tossing it over her shoulder. They had not spoken since landing in Neverland and Rumpel was not interested in having a conversation with her. The days where they would sit together in front of a fire, sharing a glass of wine and chatting about future dark plans were long gone. As far as he was concerned, she had killed their friendship.

She stood up and brushed the dirt off her clothes, ambling across the campsite to sit down near him on the tree trunk, a comfortable amount of space between them. Rumpel did not look at her. His eyes focused on the fire, as he clasped his hands between his parted legs. The trunk slightly shifted underneath Rumpel as Regina moved to get comfortable. Slyly he looked at her beside him, amused by the look of disgust on her face from her discomfort.

Catching him watching and the amused look on his face, Regina frowned at him as she said. "What?"

"Nothing." He replied turning his attention back to the fire and contently Rumpel exhaled with his shoulders relaxing.

"Rumpel." She said, calling for his attention. He ignored her call and kept his eyes forward. The trunk shifted again. Rumpel spied on her from the corner of his eye and noticed she had moved closer to him.

"Rumpel, I am sorry for what happened with Belle." Regina apologised with her hands pressed onto the trunk either side of her and her gaze focused on her feet.

Rumpel crooked his head to see her beside him. "Doesn't really matter now, does it?"

Regina looked up from her feet and met his eyes, as she said. "It does matter, 'cause it matters to you. We were friends once. Really, good friends. I don't understand what happened to get us here."

Rolling his eyes, he huffed at her and went back to looking at the fire. They sat in silence and listened to the roar of the fire. The trunk moved again underneath Rumpel as Regina brushed against his side, moving closer to her old teacher. Her closeness drew his attention, making him look to her beside him.

"It's not the end, Rumpel." She told him, her arm linking around his. "It was just an argument. You just need to go and talk to her when we get back."

"She won't want to hear what I've got to say." Rumpel told her. They sat there together enjoying a closeness they had not shared in years. He had to admit, he had missed her over the years. It was so long ago, he could not remember what exactly they had fallen out over and had led them to the 'tick for tack' they had engaged in over the years. Regina had been his student, she had also been the only person he had ever called a friend.

Rumpel looked down at where her hand rested on his arm before he placed his hand on top of hers and gave her hand a squeeze. As Regina rested her head onto his shoulder, Charming began to wake up rolling onto his back and sat up to cross his legs in front of him. Rubbing his hand through his hair, he stood up scratching at the back of his neck and wiped at the bits that must have pressed into his neck.

"Been a long time since I've had to sleep on the ground." Charming yawned as he spoke, stretching his arms above his head. "And I can safely say I have not missed it one bit."

"There's a lot of things from our old life I do not miss." Regina said, leaning up from Rumpel's shoulder.

"I don't miss any of it." Rumpel declared to them, his gaze fixed on the fire. Forgetting his past would be a blessing. If it would have help matters, he would have used a memory potion on himself a long time ago to get rid of all the memories of the hurt, he had caused his loved ones. However, no matter how much he wanted them gone, nothing could replace the memories of Baelfire and Belle. They meant too much to him, even though his actions showed otherwise.

Unhooking Regina's arm from his own, Rumpel stood and moved to the edge of their campsite, gazing up to see the night was changing to day. He wished it were that simple to change your ways. No matter how far he ran from the beast, it was always inside of him. Clawing at his skin to come out and play with a victim.

Rumpel turned back to face the others and found that Emma was awake and sat beside her father. They were discussing what direction they should head, as it was getting light.

"Wouldn't it be quicker if we split up?" Regina suggested. "Then we could cover more ground."

Rumpel shook his head at her suggestion. "There's strengthen in numbers."

"Time isn't on our side, Rumpel." Regina shot back at him.

"Gold is right though. We don't know this land and if the others got into trouble, how would we ever find them?" Emma said, gesturing with her hands.

"We need to do this together." Charming added as agreement with Emma and Rumpel.

Rumpel heard a chuckle behind him. "Oh, listen to you all."

Spinning on the spot, Rumpel came face to face with the young face of his father. As he stood in front of his father, he hauntingly saw features of Baelfire reflected in his father's face. It was a sick reminder that this creature was, indeed, related to him.

"Hello, son." Pan said stepping through the foliage. "It's been a long time."

"Not long enough." Rumpel chided, glaring at his father.

Regina shot up from the trunk and brushed pass Rumpel to confront Pan. "Where's my son!"

A simple wave of his hand sent Regina flying backwards, Rumpel was quick to stop her in mid-air and lowered her carefully to the ground. Pan applauded Rumpel and ambled pass him to stand in the middle of the campsite. Looking at the smile on his father's face, Rumpel wanted nothing more than to rip it from his face, destroy the one thing that had haunted his dreams as a child.

"Henry is enjoying our hospitality." Pan informed them, moving closer to where Charming and Emma stood, and eyed Emma head to toe.

"Where's Henry?" Emma asked in a low voice. Charming put a protective hand on Emma's shoulder, worried for his daughter's safety. Pan leered at Emma, his smile widening at the anger on her face.

"Nowhere you'll find him." Pan told her before turning back in Rumpel's direction. "Unless someone wants to make a deal?"

Defiantly Rumpel stared at his face, following Pan with his eyes as he moved back towards Rumpel, as he spoke to Pan. "Just tell us where they are."

"Oh, come on, son. You like making your little deals." Pan sounded disappointed and shoved his hands onto his hips.

"The only deal, I want to make with you, is where you're dead and I take my family home." Rumpel sneered at his father as Pan came closer, close enough to Rumpel that he could feel his father's warm breath on his face.

"That's no way to talk to your papa." Pan's voice was dark, his eyebrows pressed down over his eyes as he returned Rumpel's glare.

Rumpel leaned forward, their noses nearly touching. "I don't have a papa."

"Now, that I can agree with, because I sure as hell didn't want anything to do with you. If it wasn't for your bloody mother, I would have left you when you were born." Pan dismissed Rumpel with a wave of his hand and turned his back on his son. Just that small movement invoked a stab of pain in Rumpel's heart. Even now, his father still did not want him.

"What is your deal, so we can find Henry?" Regina said cautiously watching Pan's movements.

Pan chuckled at her. "The deal I present to you is, if you can capture my son and lock him away in the echo cave, I will let you have Henry."

"What?" Charming questioned. Regina and Emma looked at Rumpel with wide eyes. He could see the conflict in them and did not blame them. Rumpel knew that if it were the other way round, he would not have been as kind to give them a second thought. More the beast inside of him would not have given them a chance.

Emma shook her head before addressing Pan. "No. We're not making that deal with you. We're family."

Pan pointed a finger at Rumpel. "He wouldn't give you that grace, my dear. All three of you would have been handed over to me, if I had presented that deal to him."

"As much as I know, he probably would." Emma began taking a strong step forward towards Pan. "Gold is still family and I know family means a hell of a lot to him. As much as he would be torn with this decision, I'm not. Just tell us where Henry and Neal are."

"Family means nothing to him." Pan laughed as he spoke, taking in the sight of Rumpel over his shoulder. "He's had so many chances to choose family over power and he failed every time."

"Maybe if his father wasn't such a failure." Regina thought aloud, placing her hands on her hips.

Charming strode purposefully over to stand beside Rumpel, gaining a puzzled look from Rumpel, which Charming ignored as he spoke. "Family are there for each other, no matter what their faults are."

"What are you guys," Pan pulled a face at them all. "The goody patrol?"

"Weren't you listening?" Regina asked moving to stand beside Emma. "We're all family."

Pan rolled his eyes at them. "Please!"

"Where's my son and grandson?" Rumpel put to Pan, crossing quickly to his father to grab hold of Pan's shoulder. Their words had empowered Rumpel. The thing he had dreamed of as a boy had happened. He had to admit they were right. Whether linked by blood or bonds, they were a family.

Pan twisted forcefully out of Rumpel's grip and a small piece of his clothing ripped. Looking shocked at his shoulder, Pan looked up to glare at his son before disappearing into a cloud of smoke. Everyone visibly relaxed when the cloud dispersed. Rumpel examined the piece of fabric in his fist. The dark green scrap was innocent just as so many of his father's victims.

Regina's hand on his wrist brought Rumpel's gaze up to her as she spoke. "It's a good job I grabbed a vial of this." She held a vial up to him, showing the locating potion between her finger and thumb. "Now we stand a better chance of finding Henry and Baelfire."

"Let's get going then!" Emma smiled, glancing at the vial to the fabric. Rumpel unrolled his fingers, letting the fabric lay in the palm of his hand, and Regina dripped some drops onto it. The fabric glowed for a couple of seconds in Rumpel's palm. It hovered up from Rumpel's hand and headed into the jungle. They began to follow it while Charming quickly kicked some dirt over the fire, killing the flames.


	11. Chapter 11

They watched from the cover of the bushes and plants that surrounded the clearing that the Lost Boys were camping. They seemed to be getting ready to perform some sort of ritual or celebration. Paired off, the boys painted each other with what looked like mud mixed with berry juice, drawing masks onto one another. It felt like they were watching a show on the Discovery channel about a lost civilisation. The sight of them also made Rumpel wonder why his father had wanted this more than making a new start with him.

Regina and Emma reached out to one another, mirrored each other with wide eyes and held their breath. Rumpel frowned at them turning back to watch the boys and spotted what had made the two women react. Henry had entered the camp with Pan beside him, chatting to the demon with a smile on his face. The sensation in Rumpel's chest was strange. He had watched the young man grow up from a baby, never knowing he was his grandson and had never felt a connection to the boy. Possessing the knowledge of Henry's relation to him, Rumpel wanted nothing more than to drive Pan deep into the ground and take his grandson away from here.

Catching Regina in the corner of his eye about to move forward, Rumpel grabbed at her arm and held her down, receiving a pointed look from her. He shifted closer to her to whisper. "Don't."

"Why?" Regina quietly asked with her eyes focused back on Henry.

"We can't just barge in there." Rumpel told her.

The bushes rustled beside Rumpel as Charming shuffled over to them. "Can you two knock them out?"

"Yes, but not Pan." Rumpel whispered as he gestured to Pan. "He's too strong to be knocked out by a spell."

"What's the plan?" Emma asked crawling round behind Rumpel, the three of them were surrounding him. For a moment, Rumpel enjoyed the feeling of them needing him and that his opinion mattered. He had never had that.

Rumpel pressed his lips together in thought before he spoke. "We need a distraction. If we knock everyone out in the camp, then I'll distract Pan long enough so you can get Henry."

"Why you?" Emma asked.

"Do you have a better plan?" He returned her question with his own, straining to see her over his shoulder. Emma shook her head at him. Rumpel did not know what he was going to do. He just hoped that he could keep his father busy whilst they rescued his grandson. At least when Henry was safe with them, they could focus on finding Baelfire.

They all shared a look between them in agreement. Regina followed Rumpel's lead and stood out of the bushes, casting a knock out spell over the camp. All the Lost boys fell to the ground where they stood. Henry collapsed forward into Pan, who watched Henry slumped to the ground at his feet. Pan was clearly startled at the sight of his Lost boys lying on the ground.

Regina hid back into the bushes as Rumpel stepped through into the clearing. Pan spotted Rumpel and smirked at his son. Crossing the clearing, stepping over the still bodies of the Lost boys, Rumpel kept all emotion from his face and his eyes on his father.

"You didn't need to knock them out, Rumpel." Pan told him, gesturing towards the Lost boys. "They would have welcomed another Lost boy."

"I am not a Lost boy." Rumpel replied, circling his father to make him face away from Henry, allowing the others to get closer.

"No, I guess not." Pan mulled over his thoughts for a second. "You're a lost man."

Rumpel grinned. "No, I'm not lost, papa."

"Oh, really? So what are you?" Pan asked seeming interested in his son's answer, taking a step away from Henry.

"I'm just a man. Dark, but a man." Rumpel told him as he clasped his hands in front of him.

"You were an imp the last time I saw you." Pan said thinking back to their last encounter.

Behind Pan, Charming creeped out of the bushes and reached for Henry's arm. Gently he lifted the boy by his arm and laid him over his shoulders. Rumpel kept his face straight and his eyes on Pan, so not to alert him to the movement behind him.

"You know what it's like, when you've lived this long, need a fresh look every so often." Rumpel explained, waving his hands theatrically.

Pan shook his head. "No, I've not found that, laddie. Happy with being young."

"I think you mean happy escaping responsibility." He shot at his father, seeing Charming disappear into the surrounding jungle with Henry. With Charming and Henry escaping into the darkness of the bushes, gave Rumpel a surge of courage.

"Responsibility? No, not that." Pan sneered at Rumpel. "Happy escaping you."

Rumpel shrugged his shoulders at his father. "I think I got the better end of the deal."

"How so?" Pan asked intrigued.

"Why would I want such a waste of a space to be my father?" Rumpel's voice became dark as he spoke, unsaid things coming to the surface. "You did me a favour. I would never have gotten anywhere with you. I would probably be dead because of one of your deals, if you had stuck around."

"I'm not the one that brought me bad luck!" Pan wagged his finger at Rumpel, his annoyance evident in his eyes.

"You can't blame me for that!" Rumpel proclaimed at his father, while Regina was gesturing for Rumpel to come. He ignored her frantic pleads.

"I can blame you for all of it!" Pan growled moving closer to Rumpel. "You're a leach! Sucking the life force out of me with every breath, you take. You took all of my money and time from me! I couldn't do anything with you following me around like some lost puppy!"

He grinned at his father's comments and shook his head. "I might be a failure as a father, but at least I don't blame my son for my faults. I was weak and I let Baelfire go. You! You were and are pathetic. A boy who had a son." Rumpel said to his father as he turned away to walk off. "I'm more of a man than you'll ever be."

His back to his father, Rumpel walked away, feeling so much better for getting it off his chest. A multiple of life times were behind Rumpel, where he had pondered why he was not good enough for his parents. It had never occurred to Rumpel that maybe it was the other way round. He genuinely smiled at the thought until he felt something stick into his back. Slowly the smile went from his face as he tilted his head to try to see what was in his back.

Behind him, protruding from his back, Rumpel could make out the hilt of the dagger over his shoulder. The amount of times someone had stuck a blade into him was lost on him. The idea that people thought they could kill the Dark One with a normal dagger or sword amazed Rumpel. He reached behind him and pulled the dagger out of his back, curiously inspecting the yellow sludge that dripped from the dagger's blade. Rumpel turned with the dagger in his hand to face Pan, who was evilly snickering.

"Soon you will be no trouble to anyone." Pan told his son. "Sweet dreams, son." His father's words meant nothing to Rumpel, watching Pan disappear in front of him. Rumpel blinked at the peculiar sensation that was growing out from his back. His legs became unsteady underneath him and made him lose his balance, and fall down onto his knees before slumping sideways to the ground.

"Papa!" A male voice called. Rumpel felt the strong arms catch him, saving him from landing face first into the dirt, clutching at the thin jumper that Rumpel wore. His head swarm from the sensations and made Rumpel close his eyes, trying to stop everything from spinning. Other hands grabbed at Rumpel and they forced his eyelids open, one at a time. He dove into the darkness regardless of their calls, succumbing to the pull of unconsciousness.


	12. Chapter 12

A cool breeze drifted over Rumpel's face, waking him from his slumber. The cover over him was heavy and kept him restrained when he tried to lift his arm. Peering out from hooded eyes, Rumpel gazed around to find that he was lying in a bed, surrounded by white walls. The stained glass window was open, allowing the sounds of birds chirping into his room. The crucifix on the opposite wall caught his attention, encouraging a groan of annoyance from him.

He closed his eyes and lay there. The last thing he remembered was his father stabbing him in the back and seeing the yellow substance on the knife. Rumpel concluded the coating on the blade was a form of poison. He had not felt pain from it. It felt like his life had been draining from him.

The door opened and Rumpel cracked his eyes enough to see the room, hopeful that it appeared to whomever he was still asleep. Mother Superior entered his room with a large basin and placed it on the table at the end of his bed. She turned away and pulled open a draw on the chest of draws behind her, and closed it again to turn back with bandages in her hands. Leaving them beside the basin, she waltzed over to beside his bed and untucked the sheets from under the mattress to pull them back from him. As she reached over him, Rumpel grabbed hold of her wrist preventing her from touching him.

Mother Superior was shocked and gasped at his sudden movement. "Rumpelstiltskin!"

"What are you doing?" Rumpel asked. He was amazed at how croaky his voice sounded and licked his lips realising his mouth was dry. Mother Superior collected the glass from his bedside and held the glass of water to him. He eyed her before releasing his hold on her wrist and took the glass, unsure whether to trust this gnat. As he tried to sip at the water, it dribbled pass the sides of the glass, running down his chin and onto his chest.

"Don't drink too much at once." She advised him, using a nearby cloth to mop his chest. Rumpel finished the glass of water and licked his parched lips, feeling more refreshed.

He held the glass out to her. "Thank you."

She was unsure of him as she took the glass from him, not used to the well-mannered Dark One. Rumpel tried to sit up and groaned at the pain that emanated from his back. Steadying her patient, Mother Superior encouraged him to sit up with a guiding hand on his lower back and held onto his lower arm.

"You were poisoned." She began to explain. "Lucky for you, Neal was able to get hold of some water that was an antidote for the poison."

"Bae?" Rumpel mumbled, drawing his knees up out of the covers to lean forward onto them.

Mother Superior unwrapped the bandaged around his abdomen. "Yes, but it was touch and go when you came back. It seems the water only works if you stay in Neverland. From the water they brought back, I made an elixir. Your wound though, won't heal with magic, so we're going to have to let it heal naturally."

"Thank you." Rumpel said gratefully, raking his fingers through his hair. Her movements paused at his words before she carried on removing the bandage. As she peeled the dressing from his back, where he suspected the wound was, Rumpel hissed at the pain.

She moved to the foot of the bed, disposing of his bandages in the bin. "You've been out for a week."

"Really?" He questioned her.

Nodding her head at him, she dunked a cloth into the basin and rinsed it out. "You've had a few visitors while you've been out."

"Where is everyone?" Rumpel asked, looking to the doorway whilst she came to stand beside him and cleaned the wound. He grunted at the pain and held back the urge to fling her across the room, even though he would have enjoyed it.

"Probably asleep. It's about eight o'clock in the morning." She told him, folding the cloth to rub over his back. "I think I'm going to leave the dressing off, as you're awake. It would be best to let it air."

"Okay." He mumbled to her as she went back to the table at the end of his bed. She threw the cloth into the bin with his old bandages. Tidying up her table, Mother Superior put the fresh bandages back into the chest of draws and collected the basin.

As she was leaving his room, she stopped in the doorway to speak to him. "I'll bring you your clothes."

Rumpel nodded to her and groaned twisting to put his legs over the edge of the bed. Bracing on the edge of the bed, he took a deep breath at the pain readying himself to stand. He rocked himself back and forth and stood on the count of three in his head. Unsteady on his feet Rumpel reached for the bedside table and waited until his legs stopped shaking.

The view outside of his window drew his gaze, the colourful flowers tempting him outside. It reminded him of the small garden Belle had at his castle. Rumpel stepped forward and stumbled towards the window. He grabbed the window ledge and leaned against it for support, taking in the scene outside his window. It was nice to be back on familiar ground.

However, he wished he were still in Neverland. He had gone there with a plan. His plan was to save his son and grandson, but his plan had been foiled. His chance to rescue his family had been robbed from him. Instead, his family had ended up rescuing him, taking his chance to allow himself to be selfless. Pan had not planned for Rumpel to survive, but whichever way you looked at it, everyone thwarted his chance to be a hero. Rumpel had hoped that if he came back being a hero, she would be more inclined to hear his side and would see him in a better light. Now she would only have pity for him and Rumpel did not want that.

"Well, well." The voice in the doorway dawdled. Carefully turning to lean back against the ledge, Rumpel found Regina in the doorway eyeing him head to toe.

"You may not be hunky, but you are lean." She smiled at him, entering the room with his pants and shoes. "The definition in your stomach."

"Give me my clothes and go." Rumpel commanded, holding his hand out for his things.

Regina raised a seductive eyebrow at him, which he hoped was in play, as she offered his pants and shoes to him. "Love the boxers."

Frowning at her comment, he glanced down at his tight fitting boxers whilst she left the room, giggling to herself. Rumpel shook his head at her and stumbled back to the bed, and dropped onto it evoking a creak out of it. He slowly fed his feet into his pants and pulled them up to his knees. The pain in his back cried as Rumpel leaned over to put his shoes on, groaning down at his feet about how old he felt.

Rumpel carefully stood up leaning his weight onto the bedside table with a hand clenching the waist of his pants. Sure that he was steady, Rumpel pulled up his pants and moaned at the stab of pain when the waistband of his pants touched his wound. He fastened them and let them hang loosely on his hips, foregoing the belt to save him the discomfort. Slowly he made his way around the bed and out of the room, using the wall as his crutch as he shuffled down the corridor.

He pushed open a door, groaning at the pain as he came through the doorway. Rumpel stumbled against the door for support, looking round he saw a couple of the fairies sitting at a table nearby, gaping at him across the room. The expression on their faces was one of the main reasons he left for New York. Fed up of people gawking at him. The people in Storybrooke were never going to change, even if Rumpel had mellowed with his time away.

Moving forward from the door, Rumpel could hear Regina talking to the Mother Superior nearby and shuffled his way in the direction of their voices. He bumped into the wall with his shoulder and groaned while he observed Regina and Mother Superior through the doorway. Regina was waving her hands about, gesturing something, to the fairy.

"Can he go home, is more the question?" Regina asked as her hand waved in the direction of his room.

Mother Superior pulled a face as she spoke. "I don't see why not. The poison is gone and his wound his healing."

"Good." Rumpel said dragging himself along the wall.

Both women jumped at his voice and turned to face him in the doorway, as he told them. "The sooner I get back to New York the better."

Regina shook her head at him. "I don't think you're well enough to drive. You've only just woken up."

"When I care for you opinion, I'll ask for it." Rumpel said, waving his hand dismissively at her.

"Why don't we wait till Neal gets here and then we all can sit down and discuss it?" Mother Superior suggested, trying to be the diplomat.

Rumpel licked his lips before he spoke, feeling his mouth drying. "I don't need to discuss this with anyone. I am a grown man. I know what I need. I need to get back to where I belong. Even you two can admit I don't belong here anymore."

"What about Baelfire and Henry?" Regina asked him, reaching to touch his arm.

"I'll only hurt them." Rumpel admitted to them and pulled his arm out of Regina's reach. "I've done what you've asked. I helped you get him back… In a way. Now it's time for me to go home."

"Okay, if not them, what about Belle?" Regina pushed him for an answer. "She's been at your bedside every day."

Rumpel closed his eyes and dropped his chin to his chest. He did not know it was possible, but in that moment, he loved Belle more than ever. "She has?"

"Every day." Mother Superior answered his question. Looking up at the two women, Rumpel felt a need to run, to find Belle wherever she was and squeeze her to death in his arms while he told her everything was going to be all right. Regina took hold of his arm and led him dazedly out of the doorway, leading him to a group of chairs that were close by. He lent his weight heavily onto Regina until she guided him to a chair so he could sit down.

"See, you can't even walk on your own properly." She reprimand him while she took the chair next to his. "Give it a day and see how you feel then."

"I thought she would want nothing to do with me." He confessed to Regina, resting his chin into his hand as he leaned onto the arm of the chair.

A small smile tugged at the corner of her lips. "I told you it was just an argument. If she can still love you after being locked away for thirty years, then I'm more than sure one argument isn't going to stop that."

"You'd be surprised what can kill love." Rumpel said moving his hand up from his chin and slid his fingers into his hair. All of his being told him to get in his car and leave. The only problem was a part of him was holding him back, as his heart was crying for Belle. He had spent too much of his life listening to the voices inside of his head, instead of listening to the one voice that really spoke to him.

"You really scared everyone." Regina told him, bringing him out of his musings. "You were in and out of consciousness so much."

Rumpel raised an eyebrow at her. "Well, you don't have to worry about me, dearie."

"Whether you like it not, everyone worries about you. Baelfire was beside himself with worry." She said, touching a hand to his knee. He glanced at her hand on his knee and back to her face. There was a genuine worry in her eyes.

He swallowed hard and decided to change the subject. "What happened anyway?"

"Okay… Well, of course, you were unconscious, so Charming and Baelfire carried you to Baelfire's hideout. When we got there, we met Hook, who'd been helping Baelfire to try and get Henry back."

"Hook!" Rumpel jolted up in his seat, ignoring the pain. "Hook was there? Captain Hook?"

Regina smiled wearily at him. "Yes and yes, I know you have history. Charming had to protect you from being stabbed by Hook's… hook."

"Is he here? In Storybrooke?" He questioned, pointing his finger forcefully towards outside.

"That's how we got to Storybrooke." She told him, squeezing his knee. "We captured Pan's shadow and used it to return on Hook's ship."

"You brought him here!" Rumpel became agitated, his anger building.

Somewhere distantly a door opened. Rumpel pulled his hair through his fingers, trying to figure out how Hook was still alive. He knew the man did not have magic. The only thing plausible was he had been in Neverland all this time and now the 'goody patrol' had let him loose in Storybrooke, ready to kidnap another man's wife. As much as Milah meant nothing to Rumpel now, the pain of her ripping herself from his son was still too much for Rumpel to forgive.

Regina stood from her seat and went off somewhere behind him. Rumpel was too lost in his thoughts to care where she had gone. If Hook was lose in Storybrooke and learnt that Belle was Rumpel's love interest, then she was in danger. He had to find a way to protect her. He had to get to her.

Deciding he was going to find her, he struggled to get out of his chair until a hand touched his shoulder. Just a simple touch was enough to force him back down. Rumpel fell back into his chair groaning and looked up to the owner of the hand, shocked to see Baelfire shifting between the two chairs to take the seat Regina had vacated.

"Hello, Papa." Bae greeted his father with a small smile. Speechless Rumpel reached across to Baelfire and touched his son's face with a tear quickly falling down his cheek. It was strange to see his son with a goatee and with grey flecks in his hair. Fate had been kind in letting them have the chance to rekindle their relationship, but time had been unfair by robbing all the years they could have been together. Rumpel would give anything to go back to that night and go through the portal with Baelfire.

"Bae." Rumpel muttered with another tear falling down his cheek. Roughly, Rumpel clawed at Baelfire's jacket and yanked his son towards him. The pain was worth it as he bear hugged Baelfire, squeezing him into his chest.

Baelfire gently pushed Rumpel away, holding onto his father by his forearm. "Papa, you should be in bed."

"No, Bae," Rumpel shook his head at Bae, his hand reaching back up to touch Bae's cheek. "I'm perfectly fine. Don't worry about me."

"You haven't aged a bit, Papa." Bae told Rumpel.

Rumpel smiled at him. "I can't say the same for you, son."

They shared a laugh between them and settled back into their seats, filling in each other on what had happened to the other. Baelfire was surprised to hear that Rumpel had been in New York trying to find him and they had laughed hard at the realisation that Baelfire had gone for a job interview at Rumpel's company. It felt good to sit and chat with his son. Of course, it was not the same as it was, it never be the same.


	13. Chapter 13

Rumpel and Baelfire sat on a bench in the gardens of the convent, still talking about their pasts. A breeze blew over the back of Rumpel's neck, making Goosebumps form on his bare arms where he had his sleeves pulled up on his jumper. Smiling at something that Baelfire told him, Rumpel smoothed a hand over the back of his neck to get rid of the tickle. It had been nice spending the morning with his son, but that did not stop Rumpel looking over his shoulder to see if she was coming. From where they sat, they could see the convent parking lot. Every time a car turned up, Rumpel let his gaze roam over there to see if it was she.

Hearing the gravel crunch as a car drove over it, Rumpel carefully turned his head to see, holding his breath. A delivery truck pulled up and then reversed towards the convent. He huffed in annoyance and turned back to see a broad smile on his son's face.

"What?" Rumpel asked as he looked around to see what had made his son smile.

"She's helping Emma and Snow organise the party." Baelfire told him, laying his arm over the back of the bench.

Turning back to Baelfire, Rumpel felt a shyness come over him. "Oh."

"I was surprised when I found out." Baelfire said focusing on the flowers in front of them. "I've never known you to be with any other woman apart from my mother." Rumpel watched his fingers, lacing and unlacing them nervously. "I was sat chatting to Belle in Grannies. We got talking about lost loves as I just had an argument with Emma."

Bravely Rumpel looked up to his son's face as Baelfire carried on. "She was telling me about this sorcerer and how she'd made a deal with him to save her people. The deal had meant she'd have to take care of his castle and his needs. She expected to live in hell, but the sorcerer showed her a kindness that she'd never anticipated."

"Really?" Rumpel said, joining Baelfire in gazing over the flowerbeds.

"Slowly he started showing other people this kinder side of him. Showing mercy to people that had wronged him." He said to Rumpel, picking at something on his coat.

"Never." Rumpel pulled a surprised face at his son. "Why would this sorcerer want to do a thing like that?"

"See this is what caused a little debate between us." Baelfire said shifting on the bench to fold his leg underneath himself, so he could face his father. "I said he must have had his reasons that would go in his favour in the future. To which she shook her head forcefully at me and told me how this sorcerer had let Robin Hood and Maid Marian go after Robin had stolen something from this sorcerer."

Raising his eyebrow, Rumpel gazed at Baelfire from the corner his eye. "This sorcerer is starting to sound weak."

"Sounds more like this sorcerer, even with the darkness inside of him, was becoming compassionate." Baelfire retorted, poking his finger into Rumpel's shoulder.

"This sorcerer," Rumpel emphasised as he turned his head to look at Baelfire beside him. "should have let the light into his soul a long time ago. But sadly, if he had done that, then the story would never have happened and she wouldn't be in his life. I regret that I didn't go with you, Baelfire, but I also don't." He paused. "Else, I'd never have met Belle."

Baelfire smiled at his father's honesty. "Papa, it's fine. I understand."

"Doesn't stop me feeling guilty, son." He told him, patting his hand on Baelfire's knee. It felt good in some way to share the guilt Rumpel had been keeping to himself. When he had realised that he had been falling in love with Belle at his castle, the guilt of not going with Baelfire had weighed heavily down on his heart. How could he have happiness when he had allowed something so precious to slip through his fingertips? Then he had done the same thing again, forced another person that was precious to him to leave.

Rumpel combed his fingers through his hair, ruffling his hair in all directions, as he leant onto the arm of the bench with his elbow saying. "So how did you end up back in Storybrooke?"

"I was engaged." Baelfire stated flatly. "It turned out though she was working for Pan the whole time she was with me. It was part of their back up plan, in case her partner couldn't find Storybrooke."

"Back up plan?" Rumpel questioned, tilting his head to look at Baelfire.

"When I was a Lost Boy, Pan was always looking for a boy. Of course, I didn't realise at the time that the boy would be my son. But I'm guessing Pan somehow knew after he met me. That's why I was able to come here, because he allowed me to leave." Baelfire explained, gesturing with his hands.

"I get it. He had her with you in case you came into contact with Henry." Rumpel said carefully sitting back against the bench.

Baelfire rubbed at his forehead and slid his leg out from underneath himself to sit properly on the bench. "Her partner found Storybrooke, so when he did, he called for her. So she suggested to me that we come down here to look at wedding venues."

Rumpel laughed. "Get married in Storybrooke?"

"Yeah, I know but you know you can't change a woman's mind once it's made up." Baelfire joked to his father, turning his head to see the smile on his father's face.

"Yes, I've experienced that." Rumpel said smiling broadly at Baelfire.

"So, we came into town and I bumped into Emma, and then everything kicked off. From there you can fill in the blanks." Baelfire told him, leaning forward to brace himself onto the edge of the bench.

Seeing the familiar torment on his son, Rumpel pursed his lips into a line and slapped his hand onto Baelfire's shoulder, reassuringly squeezing his shoulder. He knew from the look on Baelfire's face, he felt guilty over Henry being kidnapped, but it was not Baelfire's fault. As usual, it was all to do with Pan, pushing things to go in his own favour. If anyone was going to shoulder the burden, it should have been Pan.

A phone started ringing and buzzing. Rumpel looked down towards Baelfire's pocket as his son dug his hand into his pocket to get his phone. Baelfire answered the phone so quick Rumpel was not able to see who the caller was on the screen.

"Hey." Baelfire said. "Yeah, yeah, everything's fine. Yeah, that's right, he is." He paused and glanced at Rumpel. "I'll ask him, but he's a bit shaky on his feet. Yeah, definitely. See you later."

Rumpel watched Baelfire put his phone back into his pocket, intrigued by the side of the conversation he heard. Baelfire smiled at his father and reached over to touch his father's knee. He began to get the impression he was not going to like what Baelfire was about to say.

"Now, Papa," His son began, which made Rumpel groan. "Just listen, okay?"

Closing his eyes for a second, Rumpel opened his eyes again and nodded his head at Baelfire, saying. "Okay, go on."

Baelfire nodded his head and continued. "I know you don't like social gatherings. You never have. But, you've been invited to the celebration tonight."

"Celebration for what?" Rumpel asked, looking at Baelfire beside him.

"Celebrating a few things." Baelfire mused. "But I think mostly everyone just wants to let some steam off."

Letting his head rest down onto his chest, Rumpel muddled over whether he could put up with an evening with the Storybrooke residents. The old Rumpel would have stay at home and kept himself to himself. Back then, he had no family and no one there to support him. Times had changed. His family had brought themselves together and they were all going to be at this party.

Rumpel lifted his head up from his chest and looked to Baelfire beside him. "Let me think about it, son. The only thing I know I want to do at the minute is get home and shower."

"Okay." Baelfire stated as he stood up from the bench and offered his hand to Rumpel. "Come on then, I'll take you home. Your phone and that are in my car."

Pushing himself up with the arm of the bench, Rumpel tried to stand on his own without using Baelfire's aid. He felt steadied on his feet and smiled to himself, feeling more himself. Baelfire put his arm around Rumpel's shoulders and guided him over to his car.


	14. Chapter 14

Sitting out on his patio, Rumpel held a cup of tea between his hands on the table, gazing about the over grown flowerpots and dead flowerbeds. His thoughts had kept bouncing between Belle and the residents of Storybrooke, worrying about them staring if he went to the party. He tried to tell himself that he would be fine and he did not need to feel uneasy. The voices though, were telling him how he was unwelcome in Storybrooke.

Inside the house, Rumpel could hear an echo of someone knocking at the front door. He sipped the last of his tea and stayed seated, letting Baelfire answer the door. Rumpel was grateful to Baelfire for bringing him home and staying in case he needed him. Showering and dressing had helped Rumpel feel more normal. It also had helped that he had cast a spell over himself, so he did not feel any more pain from his back. Mother Superior had been right, using magic to heal his wound did not work. Pan must have enchanted the blade.

"Mr Gold." Henry's voice called from the patio doors. Rumpel left his thoughts where they were and turned to face his grandson. He could not help the smile that tugged at the corner of his lips, seeing Henry dressed in a white shirt and black dress pants with a thin black tie.

"Hello, Henry." Rumpel greeted and gestured to the chair beside him at the table. As he pulled the chair out from the table for Henry, the young man crossed quickly over to Rumpel and sat down into the chair. Taking a moment, Rumpel eyed the young man over, feeling as it was the first time he had ever seen Henry.

"This feels kind of weird." Henry confessed, playing with the end of his tie.

Rumpel's smile grew wider. "I can understand that. You've grown up thinking of me as the town monster."

"You're not a monster, scary at times, but not a monster." Henry told his grandfather, making the elder man dip his head. "You're my grandpa anyway."

"Yes, suppose I am." Rumpel said raising his head to look at Henry. The young man smiled kindly, encouraging the smile back onto Rumpel's face.

"Hey." Rumpel turned his head to see Emma in the doorway, dressed in her usual red leather jacket with a white shirt underneath and her tight black pants. "It's good to see you up and about, Gold."

He acknowledged what she said with a nod of his head and said. "From the sounds of it, you all had quite the adventure."

"Yeah, you could say that." Emma said crossing the patio to stand behind Henry with her hands on the back of his chair. "So, we've come over to pick Neal up for the party. He's asked me to see whether you're coming, while he's getting changed upstairs."

Rumpel reached out to play with the handle of the teacup and sighed as he shrugged his shoulders at Emma and Henry. Was it worth it? Rumpel could not answer. All he knew was if he spent the rest of his years running, as his old self had, he was going to miss something special. Whether that was spending more time with his family or with her, it did not matter. They meant so much to him.

"Come on, Grandpa, it'll be fun." Henry encouraged with a grin. Hearing Henry call Rumpel 'Grandpa' astounded Rumpel for a second. Never in his wildest dreams did he ever think when he found Baelfire, he would have a family of his own. Perhaps it should not have been such a shock as life always went on.

Nodding his head, Rumpel winked at Henry. "For you, anything."

Henry launched out of his chair and slung his arms around Rumpel, scaring the hell out of his grandfather as he hugged him before running off into the house, shouting to Baelfire he was coming. Chuckling at Henry's excitement, Rumpel shook his head and stood from his seat, pulling his waistcoat down. Emma shared a smile with him briefly and followed Henry inside the house. He ambled his way in behind her, closing the patio door on his way back into the house.

Rumpel turned the lights off in the kitchen whilst Baelfire came down the stairs, fastening the button of his suit jacket. Rumpel's chest swelled at the sight of his son, proud to see this grown man in front of him. He was just glad that he had taken more after Milah in the looks department than himself.

"See, Papa, you're not the only one in the family, who can look handsome in a suit." Baelfire told his father, coming down the stairs. Rumpel simply smiled at his son joining him in the entrance hall. He gave his son's tie a quick tug and straightened it for him. His hands lingered on Baelfire's chest as Rumpel tried to maintain his emotions. It was overwhelming him.

"Papa, it's okay." Baelfire reassured him and pulled his father into a hug.

"Oh, Bae." Rumpel mumbled into Baelfire's shoulder, allowing himself to cry in the safety of his son's embrace. Baelfire gave Rumpel a manly slap on his back before pulling away from his father. Rubbing the wetness away from his eyes, Rumpel straightened his waistcoat and hair, checking himself in the mirror on the wall. As Baelfire went into the sitting room to talk to Emma and Henry, Rumpel tugged at the open collar of his shirt, making sure he looked immaculate.

"Come on, Papa." Baelfire called, guiding Henry to the front door with his hands on his shoulders. Emma was aimlessly following behind them and held the front door when Baelfire opened it, waiting for Rumpel as they went out the door. Rubbing at the back of his neck, Rumpel turned the light off in the sitting room and joined Emma by the front door. He smiled at Emma and trailed after her through the front door closing it behind him, leaving the entrance hall light on.

Coming down the steps of his porch, Rumpel was astonished to see his car parked in his driveway. He was looking at it as he got to the bottom step of his porch, where Emma was standing. A jingling sound drew his attention to Emma, where she jangled the keys to his car.

"Neal asked me to bring your car over for you." Emma informed him as Rumpel took his keys. He nodded his thanks to her and pocketed his keys. They walked down the path of his house together, not saying anything to one another, and climbed into Baelfire's car parked at the kerb. She climbed into the back to join Henry and Rumpel took the passenger seat in the front.

As they drove to the town hall, Henry was telling them all about a project he was working on for school. Rumpel sat quietly, listening to the excited chattering of his grandson. It was very mundane the atmosphere in the car. If Rumpel did not know any better, he would have thought this was a normal occurrence, a family outing. There was no talk of magic or any need of it, just like his life in New York, which made it easier to go with them to the party.


	15. Chapter 15

The car stopped at the entrance to the town hall and waited for them to exit before Baelfire drove off to park the car. Rumpel waited at the bottom of the stairs whilst Emma and Henry headed into the party. The music danced through the air, calling everyone to the festivities. Glancing up to the windows of the hall, Rumpel could see there was a light show going on inside, as the coloured lights would flicker through the windows. Compared to the nightclubs in New York, Rumpel thought it was low key to the clubs he had attended.

He watched Baelfire approaching, chatting to Grumpy and Sleepy beside him. Grumpy gave Rumpel a look, one that said the smaller man had a problem with Rumpel. The dwarf held Rumpel's attention, turning to watch the shorter man enter the hall, while Rumpel tried to understand. Baelfire led Rumpel up the steps to the open doorway with a hand on his shoulder.

"He's good friends with Belle." Baelfire informed his father, nodding his head at someone who said hello to him.

Shrugging his eyebrows at the new information, Rumpel fed his hands into the pockets of his pants and strolled beside his son into the entrance hall of the building. People were mingling in the small corridor, laughing and drinking. He tried to keep his gaze from them as he passed them with Baelfire in front of him, squeezing through to get to the main party. It did not stop the hair rising on the back of Rumpel's neck, an inbuilt detector telling him when people were staring. A sad sigh escaped him as he lowered his head to look at the floor, staying steady behind his son's lead.

Baelfire stopped in the doorway to the main hall, stretching on tiptoes to spot someone in the crowd. Slightly agitated Rumpel shuffled to one side and leaned against the open door, keeping himself to himself in the crowded room. He allowed his gaze to move over the dancing couples, thinking to himself he should be in the safety of his own home.

"Papa!" Baelfire called, pointing vaguely over to a table on the other side of the room.

Silently Rumpel followed his son through the crowd, excusing himself through the sea of people. They came out onto the other side of the dancefloor, where they found the Charmings had acquired a table for themselves. He swallowed nervously and moved round to an empty chair that would put his back to the wall, covering himself from an unforeseen attack.

"Rumpel!" Charming shouted above the music whilst Rumpel took the chair beside him. "It's good to see you up and about!"

Rumpel smiled his thanks to Charming, as Baelfire placed a hand on Rumpel's shoulder. "What's your poison, papa?"

"Whiskey or beer." He said leaning towards his son, so he did not need to raise his voice. Nodding his understanding, Baelfire left with Snow beside him and was absorbed into the crowd. Rumpel had to admit, as he tried to follow Baelfire through the throng of people, there was certainly a good turnout for whatever they were celebrating.

Henry shocked Rumpel for a second, squeezing between Rumpel and the empty chair beside him to sit down. "Grandpa!"

"Yes, Henry!" Charming said, turning in his seat to face them.

Rumpel and Henry gazed at Charming, as Henry said. "I was talking to this grandpa," He pointed to Rumpel. "Grandpa!"

"Oh!" Charming muttered before turning away, saying. "Sorry!"

"Anyway," Henry said lifting his book onto the table. "I wanted to talk to you about your story!"

"My story?" Rumpel questioned, dragging his chair closer to Henry, so they did not need to shout.

Henry nodded his head enthusiastically. "Yeah! Your story with Belle!"

Scowling, Rumpel leaned closer watching Henry open the book to the required page and gestured to page in the book. Many times in the past, he had seen Henry around town carrying this book and reading it when he was alone. He had never thought much of it, just a collection of stories, but seeing a near perfect picture of himself in the book made Rumpel's eyebrows press down further over his eyes. Rumpel scanned the text and read the events that had taken place at the castle of Belle's father, the deal between Belle and himself.

Intrigued, he flicked through the pages and began to smile at the tale and the images until he came to the section on how he had sent her away. He knew wishing the past to be different was pointless. Especially as he would not be the same man. Someone he thought was a lot different to the beast in that story.

A glass presented itself in front of Rumpel's face. Taking the glass, Rumpel thanked his son with a nod of his head and leaned back into his chair to sip his beer. Henry waited expectantly like an eager apprentice, waiting to lap up the knowledge of his master.

Rumpel smiled at the thought, as he said to Henry. "What about it, Henry?"

"Right," Henry paused for a moment to think how to word his question, before saying. "Why did you make the deal for her?"

"Why did I choose Belle to be the price for stopping the ogres?" Rumpel reworded Henry's question, to which Henry nodded his head. "Well… You may be a little young to understand this, but I will try to explain anyway."

Shifting his chair closer, Rumple put his arm around the back of Henry's chair as he spoke to him. "I received a letter from Belle's father, saying they required help fighting the ogres. For my services, they'd offered to give me the kingdom's gold." Henry nodded his head. "I had no need of gold, as you know from reading the story, I can spin it. So at the time, I thought I would go there anyway and see if I could make a deal for perhaps his next child or whatever took my fancy."

Henry's eyebrows drew together as Rumpel spoke, but interrupted his grandfather before he could continue. "What did you do with the kids you took?"

"I ate them." Rumpel replied matter-of-factly. The shocked look on Henry's face made Rumpel laugh loudly, causing everyone at the table to glance over at the pair huddled together. The haunted look on his grandson's face reminded him of the look that Belle had worn when he had told her what her duties would be while she was at his castle.

He shook his head at Henry, stifling his laughter. "I'm joking." Henry smiled slowly at his grandfather. "You've got to remember, people are always desperate. Take everyone here tonight." Rumpel gestured to the people behind Henry. "There will be someone in this room who wants something and there will be someone in this room willing to give it away. I would take a child as payment and deal that child to another family, who might not be able to have children."

"Oh! I get it." Henry said. "Stock."

"Yes… Something along those lines. Sounds bad saying it like that." Rumpel thought aloud, sadden by his old deals. He was not proud. It had always sickened him to take someone's child, especially as he felt their agony every time, but the dark voices had been so persuasive in those days.

"Anyway, you were saying about Belle." His grandson encouraged Rumpel to return to his story.

"Yes, Belle… So, when I got there I realised they didn't have much of anything left. The castle was near enough destroyed. I'm guessing they had been paying mercenaries with family heirlooms and belongings." Rumpel surmised and took a drink of his beer.

Henry looked thoughtful. "I'm glad we don't have ogres in this world."

"Oh, it's a blessing!" He told Henry, placing his glass onto the table, and continued. "They were pretty desperate when I arrived at the castle. I think they had lost one of their main outposts."

"Then you banged on the door." Henry interjected making Rumpel smile at the impatient side of his grandson.

"It was funny watching them all move towards the door as though it was the boogie man… Though," Rumpel thought about it before carrying on. "Guess I was in some way. Anyway, so I made my grand entrance and scared all of them. But Belle," He smiled at the memory. "She wasn't scared. She was curious." He said fondly.

"Is that why?" Henry asked while he read over the first page of Rumpel and Belle's story.

"No… Maybe… Could have been. But, to be honest, she took my breath away." Rumpel admitted staring off into space, remembering the image of Belle. She was so young then. Unwise to the darkness of the world, but stood so bright, lighting a room with just her presence.

"Love at first sight?" Henry queried with a page between his fingers, glancing at Rumpel over his shoulder.

Rumpel shrugged his shoulders taking the beer from the table. "I wouldn't say at first sight. An attraction, yes. Love is like a rose, Henry. It blooms over time, but you have to be careful with it. It doesn't take much to destroy something so delicate." Touching the young man's shoulder, Rumpel grew serious in tone. "That is why you shouldn't give your heart to just anyone. Make sure she's the right one. Take it from someone who's had his heart broken."

Henry listened to his grandfather, slowly nodding his head in agreement with him. Happy with Henry's response, Rumpel sat back into his chair and drank his beer, keeping a protective arm around the back of Henry's chair. The young man leant onto the table and flicked back a page to the start of the story to reread it. Watching over his grandson, the pride in Rumpel's chest pressed hard against his ribs, ready to burst.

The unease Rumpel had felt earlier was gone, subdued by Henry. His hand itched to touch Henry, affectionately roughen his hair, but he did not feel he had the right with everyone watching him. He was content though, to sit and watch over his grandson reading his book. It was a grim reminder of the evenings spent in their hovel, Baelfire reading a book about a hero defeating a dragon in some spectacular act of heroics. The memory made Rumpel's gaze drift to Baelfire across the table, who was smiling and chatting to Emma. It soothed the guilt in Rumpel's heart, seeing his son happier than he ever had.

"Lookey, here!" A voice from the past called over the music. "The crocodile's up and about!"

Rumpel did not move. He did not look. He did not show any sign of hearing the idiot. Everyone at the table stared at the drunken idiot. Baelfire jumped to his feet and quickly took hold of Hook to stop him talking further to Rumpel. Next to their feet were Charming and Emma, hovering near the table in case they had to intervene.

"Hook, leave my father alone." Baelfire instructed, shoving the man away from the table.

"Hey!" Hook cried. "There was a time you hated him!"

"Yes, at one time, I hated him." Baelfire said restraining Hook by his upper arms. "But I forgive him now and we're good."

Hook shook his head forcefully. "He killed your mother! He killed my Milah!"

As Baelfire pushed Hook back towards the crowd, Rumpel's temper got the better and he shot up from his chair, pointing his finger at Hook. "She wasn't – your – Milah!"

There was no love left in his heart for Milah. He was not jealous of Hook. Rumpel was angry for his son. Angry that Milah had abandoned their son and had chosen to go off with her lover instead of stay and watch their son grow up. It did not matter to Rumpel whether they were man and wife, or even if Milah and he were lovers. All he wanted was for Baelfire to have what he never had. Parents. Hook had allowed Milah to ruin it. Destroyed the family unit, which Rumpel had sacrificed his own ankle to keep together.

"Right, enough!" Emma called at them and rounded the table to grab hold of Hook's leather coat. "We're going to the station."

"What! I didn't do anything!" Hook cried whilst Emma shoved him through the crowd, voicing his grievances to anyone and everyone.

Watching Emma lead Hook away, Rumpel let a heavy sigh out, trying to calm his temper. Baelfire reached over Henry and squeezed Rumpel's shoulder, trying to comfort his father. He let a small smile show for Baelfire, reassuring his son he was all right, before he sat back down at the table. The old Rumpel would have ripped Hook's heart out of his chest or choked the life out of him. A wave of relief washed over Rumpel, happy he had not given into the voices in his head, crying for vengeances.

Rumpel leant forward onto the table with his elbows, covering his face with his hands as he fought back the raw emotion that Hook had raked up to the surface. Even after two centuries, it amazed him how intense his feelings of hatred were for Hook. He had hated many people in his lifetime, but not as strong as he loathed Hook.

The music changed to a slow song, slowing the pace of the dancers, who paired themselves with respective partners. Hearing one of his favourite singers, Rumpel lowered his hands from his face and laid his forearms onto the table. He knew the words to the song. The words had never struck so close to home as they did in that moment, as Celine sang about how to keep the love going between two people.

His eyes began to search the room, trying to spot her. As he turned in his seat, Rumpel disappointedly pursued his lips and rested his hand on the back of Henry's chair. He let his gaze go to the young man beside him before they fell to the book, the image of Rumpel and Belle stood out from the page. They were perched on the edge of his great hall table, his teacup held in his hands whilst she probed him for information. The disappointment left his face and a heart-warming smile replaced it.

A chair from the table behind him bumped into his chair. Glancing over his shoulder to check they had enough room, Rumpel came face to face with Belle, who smiled broadly at him. Her beauty astounded him. She wore her hair down over her bare shoulders. The tight blue dress she was wearing made him visibly swallow.

"I wondered whether Neal managed to get you to come." Belle told him, her hand rested naturally on top of his on the back of Henry's chair.

"I… I… Nearly didn't come." Rumpel stammered at her. "Henry told me it was going to be fun."

She smiled at Henry, who turned at the mention of his name. "Well done, Henry. You managed to get your anti-social grandfather to be social."

Henry smiled at Rumpel and then turned back to his book. Rolling his eyes, Rumpel shifted in his chair to face Belle more, leaning sideways against the back of the chair. She moved her hand from his on the back of Henry's chair to rest both her hands onto the back of Rumpel's chair. Her face became serious as she gazed at him, causing a small knot in his stomach.

"We need to talk." Belle informed him, the seriousness in her eyes keeping him still.

Weakly he briefly smiled at her and said. "I know and I'm sorry for what I said. I wasn't explaining myself very well."

"It didn't help that I was a little angry with you at the time." She said, her gaze drifting over to Henry as she spoke but returned to Rumpel.

"A little?" Rumpel snorted. "I think I made you more than a little angry at me."

"Yes, well, I should have known better. I was, of course, dealing with the Dark One." Belle said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"No. You didn't do anything wrong. It was all me and I'm sorry. I should have kept my promise to you." Rumpel apologised to her as he placed his hand on top of one of hers.

She smiled at his apology and rested her other hand on top of his, brushing her thumb over the tanned skin of his hand. The simple caress made Rumpel's breath hitch in his chest. Belle was his undoing. He gazed down from her face to their hands, watching the rhythmic movement of her thumb over his hand. Reaching with his free hand, Rumpel gently took her hand from the top of his other hand and brought her hand up to press against his lips, tenderly kissing her knuckles with his eyes closed. He wished he had a spell that could freeze them in time, keeping them in this special moment together.

His eyes opened when he felt her fingers draw across his cheek and cupped the side of his face. Gazing lovingly at one another, they angled themselves towards one another, hands reaching to capture the other's face. Their lips brushed fleetingly against each other with their warm breath washing over the other. Rumpel was the first to latch his lips onto hers, closing his eyes tightly to savour the feel of her soft lips.

Without breaking the kiss, Belle slipped off her seat and sat into Rumpel lap, clutching her arms around his neck. He grunted at the new position, but forgot about it when she opened her mouth to his, her tongue licked against his lips wanting access. Their tongues licked and danced together whilst hands clutched at the other, tugging hair and fingers gripped at bare skin or clothes. Everything surrounding them had dissolved to nothing.

It was only them until a voice called. "Hey! You two! Get a room!"

Belle broke the kiss, her cheek rested against his forehead as she laughed at the comment. Still lost in their kiss, Rumpel's eyes remained shut, breathing heavily against the nape of her neck, and intoxicated himself with the perfume she was wearing. He stroked a hand over her back while keeping her in place with his arm wrapped around her waist.

"You two should sell tickets next time." Regina told them. Prying his eyes open, he saw Regina take a seat on the other side of the table, laying her purse next to her drink as she sat down.

Belle gestured with her hand towards Regina, her other arm remained laid over Rumpel's shoulders. "Oh, I'll send you some free ones."

Amused by Belle's comment, Regina shook her head with a wide smile and began talking to Snow, who sat on the other side of Charming. Belle giggled to herself. She swept some hair out of her face as she glanced around the room. Rumpel could not help himself, he had dreamt of instants like this, and mentally pinched himself to believe it.

Angling his mouth to her ear, Rumpel whispered to her. "Do you want to get out of here?"

Belle's head whipped round to look at him, her eyes searched for something in his eyes before she said. "Yes."

Carefully she stood from his lap and stepped back through the gap, sheepishly avoiding the gazes of everyone at their table. Rumpel stood and straightened his waistcoat. Henry caught his gaze, when the young man looked up from his book. Smiling at his grandson, Rumpel ruffled Henry's hair and slipped through the gap to follow Belle from the table. She held her hand out behind her to him to guide him through the maze of chairs. He took hold of her hand and let her guide him out of the hall.


	16. Chapter 16

Something was buzzing in the room, crying for someone to pay attention to it. Opening his eyes, Rumpel found a mass of brown curly hair in front of him and a bare shoulder that erupted from the curls. His smile eased its way across his lips, memories of their night together made his skin tingle in anticipation of more. The buzzing that came from somewhere behind him stopped. Its task of waking him was completed.

He leaned up onto his elbow and peered over her shoulder to see her relaxed face, still sleeping deeply with the steady movement of her chest. Slowly Rumpel slid his hand out from underneath her own, which had been resting over her side, so he could carefully get out of her bed. Reaching down to the floor, he grabbed his boxers and pulled them on slowly, watching her for any signs he had disturbed her. Quickly glancing around the room, Rumpel located his pants, thrown to one side in their hurry, and put them on.

The buzzing started again and vibrated against his leg. Hastily Rumpel pulled the phone out of his pocket and answered it, whispering a greeting while he ducked out of her bedroom to close the door behind him.

"Good morning, Mr Gold." Laura greeted.

He smiled at her voice; it felt like a long time since he heard her voice. "How're you?"

"I'm good, thank you, sir. And you?" Laura replied.

"Couldn't be better." Rumpel said padding across Belle's apartment to one of the windows.

"I'm sorry to call you so early." She told him. Rumpel swept the room for a clock before bringing the phone away from his ear to see it was half seven in the morning.

"No, no, it's fine." Rumpel replied returning the phone to his ear. "What's up?"

"Berbank has requested your presence at the next negotiations between him and Furlack."

Spying through the blinds to the street below, Rumpel said. "I swear he has an obsession with me. What does he think I am his personal negotiator?"

Laura giggled down the phone at him. "Maybe, he thinks you're his lucky charm. You have made him a lot of money, when you're involved in his deals."

"Hmm…" Rumpel moved away from the window and went into the kitchen area. "When and where?"

"Tomorrow, midday, in Texas." Laura informed. "I've got you booked on a flight at ten thirty tonight and a room book at the usual hotel."

"Can you send all the relevant information to my penthouse, so I can look through it later?" He asked pinching the phone between his ear and his shoulder, filling the kettle at the sink.

"Already done, sir."

"Laura," He placed the kettle back on its stand and clicked the kettle on to boil. "What would I do without you?"

"You would hire someone else." She stated and added. "But you would be cursing them because they couldn't make your tea properly."

Nodding his head in agreement at her, Rumpel said. "Probably. Thank you, Laura. I'll speak to you later."

He ended the call and shoved the phone back into his pocket. Opting not to search her cabinets for cups, Rumpel grabbed one from the stack on the drying rack beside the sink and grabbed the nearest dishcloth to dry the cup. He could hear the water in the kettle begin to boil as he served himself the necessary ingredients to make a cup of coffee for himself. The kettle clicked and he poured some water into his cup, stirring the hot black liquid. Placing the kettle back into its stand, Rumpel took his cup from the side and went to the couch to sit down.

Blowing over his coffee, Rumpel hesitantly took a sip of the hot beverage and placed it down onto the coffee table. He took his phone back out of his pocket to go through the emails and messages his phone had received. There were texts from Baelfire and status emails from Laura. Collecting his cup from the coffee table, Rumpel sat back into the couch and drank from his coffee as he composed a text to Baelfire. He asked that his son meet him at Rumpel's house at about eleven and sent the text.

"I've never known you to be an early riser." She said from the doorway of her bedroom. Smiling Rumpel turned his head in her direction and put his phone back into his pocket. The sight of her walking across to her kitchen, dressed only in his shirt, made him breathless. She was always beautiful to him, no matter what she wore. The sight of her in his shirt, stirred a manful feeling: mine.

"As I keep pointing out to people," Rumpel began to tell her, lifting his feet to rest on the coffee table, whilst she was in the kitchen behind him. "People can actually change."

"Yes, they can." She agreed walking round the couch, dropping into the mass of cushions beside him with a steaming cup. Tilting to the side, away from her, Rumpel held his arm up to draw her into his side, slumping back against her with his arm draped over her shoulders. Belle flicked some of her hair out the way of his arm and cuddled against him, bending her knees up beside her on the couch. An ease he had never felt came over him as he sipped his coffee, watching her free hand trace lightly over his stomach.

Lifting her head to look at him, Belle asked. "Did I hear you're leaving today?"

"Just on business." He told her, playing with the ends of her hair over her shoulder.

"What about us?" She questioned turning her gaze to her drink.

"As far as I'm concern, sweetheart, I'm yours." Rumpel stated as he balanced his cup on his thigh. "Whatever you want to happen, I will make it happen."

"But you'll be in New York and I'll be in Storybrooke." Belle's voice conveyed her worry. Rumpel also got the feeling she had spent a lot of time thinking about this insignificant problem.

Lurching forward and taking his arm from around Belle, Rumpel dropped his feet from the coffee table and put his drink on the table before he turned to Belle beside him. "Look at me, when I tell you this." He instructed her, moving on the couch to face her, and clasped her hand. "It doesn't matter if I am in New York and you're here. It's only distance. I can come here anytime and you can come to mine. This can work, if you want it to work." His hand reached up and stroked her cheek. "I want nothing more than to be with you."

"Why don't you just move back here?" Belle inquired as she put her drink on the table.

"I could never move back to Storybrooke." He told her firmly. "There is too many reminders of the old me and I don't want the temptation to go back to that beast."

"I understand." She said sadly.

Rumpel shook his head at her, clasping her hand in his tightly. "No, I don't think you do."

"What?" Belle frowned at him.

"I told you once that my power was more important to me than you." Rumpel reminded her. "If I move back to Storybrooke, then my darkness will want that power. As much as Storybrooke is bright for you, it is a dark beacon for me."

She pursed her lips at him in thought, mumbling. "I never thought of it like that."

"You told me, there was good in me. I have been trying so hard to live up to what you said and I can only do that, Belle, if I'm not here in the darkness."

Nodding her head at him in understanding, Belle slid her arms around his neck and hugged him. Grateful for her understanding, Rumpel closed his eyes and nestled his face into the nape of her neck, losing himself in her sweet smell. He promised himself silently that he was going to take this chance with her and hold onto it until his dying breath. His father may have spoken the truth about Rumpel failing to take the chances presented to him, but that was the old him. The new Rumpel was not going to make the same mistakes.


End file.
